


The Main Attraction

by DarkHououmon



Category: ChalkZone
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-01
Updated: 2016-03-31
Packaged: 2018-05-10 23:37:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 50
Words: 439,224
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5605363
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DarkHououmon/pseuds/DarkHououmon
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sequel to Shattered Doll. "It is amazing that, even after all this time, you are still so...resilient. I wonder, what will it take to break you? What will it take to make you see things...my way? No answer? Oh don't worry, we have all the time in the world. I will find out eventually..."</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Five Years

Do you believe that time heals all wounds?

-The Older I Get, Skillet

sss

How long has it been since that day? How long has it been since those terrible set of weeks, the ones filled with horror and uncertainty and blood and death?

The answer was quite easy for anyone to guess. No one really lost count of the days. The day itself when it all started would always be remembered...as would the day when it finally came to an end. How could anyone forget that day? How could anyone forget the tragedies that had befallen them?

And yet... five years still felt like a short time. To those who were more personal to the tragedy, and to those who were directly targeted, it felt like a lot longer. It was as though entire centuries had gone by, zipping past them without being noticed. It was...truly something else entirely, like they existed on a different plane altogether.

But anyone with a calender would know that, despite how short it might seem, five years really was how long it's been since everything happened...and when everything had finally ened.

It had been five years since those zoners had been killed in the explosion. Five years since many zoners had gone missing, having been consumed by unassuming zoners. Five years since Sandra's plot was uncovered. Five years since Snap had been framed. Five years since so many had nearly been killed.

Five years since Sandra was convincted and sent to prison...

Despite the time distance, however, many were still quite unsure of just how safe they truly were. In the wake of Sandra's actions. many of the zoners went on tighter alerts. They were much more cautious now than they had ever been when it came to newcomers. Suddenly zoners who were new to the city were under tighter scrutiny until they proven themselves trustworthy. While some considered this overboard, many others welcomed this new security. They felt it was just too dangerous to just let any zoner wander around nowadays.

In addition to the increased security, there was also a few other changes around the city. The most notable one was the change in Sandra's location, where her restaurant originally stood. It had been revamped several times until the zoners finally settled on its final new purpose: a new restaurant run by another zoner, Haney's Diner.

Admittingly, however, not many zoners were entirely comfortable with this. Though the same could be said about any restaurant lately. Sandra had more or less soured the taste of many zoners and business for restaurants had dropped until there was certification that said restaurant wasn't doing anything wrong.

This change in attitude hardly surprised anyone. It was something that they had all come to expect, really. Sandra had left a mark on everyone in the city. She haunted many dreams and nightmares. Her very name had become something of a Boogeyman term. The mere utturance of the name 'Sandra' was enough to give many a heart attack. Zoners would look over their shoulders to make sure that she wasn't there watching them, waiting to take action. And for those most harmed by Sandra's actions, this held doubly true for them...

"Hey, Snap?"

"Come on, Snap, it's your turn!"

The blue and white zoner shook his head when his friends' voices called out to him. He looked over at them and gave them a somewhat sheepish smile. He hadn't really realized that he had been staring off into space like that. He couldn't help but wonder just how long he had been doing that before their words finally got to him.

"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to... I'm not sure what got into me." Snap said as he rubbed the back of his head nervously. He looked down at the bowling ball which sat on the machine beside him. "It's my turn, you say?"

Penny nodded her head. "It's been your turn for the past five minutes."

"Oh?" Snap tried not to blush in embarrassment at this. "I was...for that long..?"

Mint nodded his head. He took a few steps towards him, his prosthetic foot tapping more audibly against the ground than his real one. "Go ahead and roll so we can finish this game. You know I have to meet my father in about an hour. And you know what he's like when he doesn't see me five minutes past when I should be back there."

Snap gave a small nod. He did recall some rather...unfortunate incident regarding Mr. Zandophen. He would rather not think about it. "Yeah...I know." Without hesitation, he reached down and he grabbed onto the ball. He grunted as he tried to steady its weight. "Okay, here I go..."

Snap cradled the ball against himself, making sure that it didn't slip or fall onto the ground or, he shuddered, his foot. He positioned himself on the lane. He narrowed his eyes, glaring intently at the bowling pins before him. He took in a deep breath and, once he figured out how he was going to go about this, he took a step forward and pulled his arm back. As he rushed his arm forward, he released his grip on the ball. With a loud thud, the ball moved down the alleyway. Snap watched it carefully.

This wasn't exactly the type of bowling that he would have preferred. As Penny had put it, this place functioned more like one of those lame, simple bowling alleys from the Real World. But Penny had insisted on trying this out, and she never was a fan of the Polar Bear Bowling. But oh well, he was outvoted anyway. Both Mint and Rudy wanted to come to this one as well.

At the mention of Rudy, he flinched for a second. Forgetting that his ball hadn't reached the pins yet, Snap found himself turning his head and looking over at where Rudy stood. He watched as his friend pushed himself forward, leaning back against the wheelchair that he almost never leaves. It served as a painful, visual reminder of what Sandra had done, what her influence had accomplished.

Even to this day, Rudy still sometimes complained about pain in his neck. The doctors didn't think it was anything to worry about. X-Rays don't show up anything that was worth getting concerned over. That didn't stop Rudy from having to take aspirin or whatever else every day to try to cope with the discomfort his neck brought him.

But it wasn't the physical pain that got to Rudy the most. That wasn't what really got to Snap and his friends. No, it was the emotional pain that was the worst of them all. It was the mental impact that had struck Rudy that got them all to tear up once in a while.

Rudy had never been able to walk again after that incident. The doctors had high hopes that, if he could regain use of his arms, surely his legs would follow as well. But nope. There was some slight feeling back and he could register cold and heat well enough with them. But very little movement was brought back to them, and they were entirely useless for walking. This caused him to remain trapped in the wheelchair indefinitely.

This had been hard blow on them all. His parents were quite devastated, and they did what they could to help Rudy around the house, even finding ways to help him be more independent. Snap, Penny, and Mint helped him get back into ChalkZone and tried to bring him with whenever they could. But due to limitations, Rudy was no longer able to visit as much as he used to. That made this particular day quite special, as it was the first time in about two weeks that Rudy was able to visit. What with his parents almost always with him nowadays and all.

The one who had been hurt the most by this was Rudy himself. There were times where he wanted to get up and run with his friends or do something else physical, only to realize that he was stuck in his wheelchair. It was quite painful for him to not being able to do everything that he used to, especially when it got in the way of helping someone, and even more so when it resulted in him being the one helped. He didn't like being a burden to others and he strived to do what he could do everything possible on his own.

This strive for independence at times worried Snap and the others. They didn't want Rudy to push himself too far. The teenager insisted that he was fine. But a good look at his facial expressions painted a different story.

But in the end, there was really nothing they could do to stop Rudy from pushing himself. They could only warn him to take it easy and hope that he would take their advice. They didn't want to see him getting more hurt and it would devastate them if they found Rudy collapsed out of his wheelchair somewhere all because he was trying to push himself too far.

Snap's attention was torn from Rudy when he heard a loud bang sound from behind him. He nearly jumped out of his skin when he whirled his head over to see what happened. He immediately settled himself down when he saw that it had just been the bowling ball striking at the pins.

"Nice shot, Snap!"

Snap felt himself momentarily swell up with pride when he saw the bowling ball knock over all but two of the pins. Not a perfect strike, but it was still enough that Snap couldn't help but put his hands on his hips and make a show offy stance.

It did feel good, really. Even after all this time, he still usually felt a little more...bummed out than he usually had been. Sandra was permanently etched onto his mind, still feeling her teeth in his stomach... He gritted his teeth as he rubbed his belly a little, his smile faultering at the mere memory of her.

It wasn't just Sandra; he had grown nervous around most of the zoners in ChalkZone City, with few exceptions. Even though he understood that it wasn't their fault, even though they had all apologized and tried to make it up to him, Snap couldn't help but still feel nervous around them. He could still hear their terrible words that they spoke five years ago, and he could still see their death glares in his mind. It was something that hardly diminished since...those horrifying few weeks...

Snap thought fast and quickly put a smile on his face before any of his friends spotted it. He walked back over to the machine to get ready for his bowling ball again. He was about to turn to Rudy and tell him it was his turn when he noticed the expression on his creator's face.

"Snap...what's wrong?" Rudy asked carefully. It was almost ironic, really. The one who had been the most physically damaged asking Snap if he was okay. "You look a little pale.. Well I mean, paler than usual."

Snap felt his heart clench. Not wanting to dwell on the subject matter, he simply shook his head. "No..I'm fine." He motioned towards Rudy, giving the best smile that he could muster up. "I do believe it's your turn, Bucko."

Rudy narrowed his eyes and folded his arms. "Snap..."

The blue and white zoner glanced at his friend before turning his head to look at the others. Penny and Mint were silent, but he could see the way that they were looking at him. Even Ripclaw, who was curled up against the wall, was staring at him suspiciously. When even Ripclaw was clearly not buying into his act, he knew that he wasn't very convincing.

He dropped the smile completely and lowered his head. It hadn't been his intention to ruin the day with this. He had always tried to avoid the subject of Sandra, as the very memory of her shook all of them to their core.

Yet it was something that he found was unavoidable. Rudy was proof of that. No one could really talk about his condition without bringing up Sandra. This caused poor Rudy to have horrible flashbacks of that blue dragon, and there had been a couple points in the past when he would have a damn near heart attack. An unfortunate reality, but it was one that they were currently trapped in.

Snap lifted his head and turned back at them. He didn't even attempt to smile anymore. They weren't going to buy it. So why bother even attempting? In a dulled down voice, he said, "You all know what I am talking about..."

At this, their eyes widened and flickered. They looked at one another. No words, just expressions of horror and understanding. They then looked back at Snap, Penny licking her lips nervously, Mint flinching, and Rudy leaning forward, staring at Snap intently.

"Oh Snap..." Whispered Penny. "I can...understand why you.. I mean, we all are..." It was not everyday that Penny would be speechless. But there was always a first for everything.

Mint gritted his teeth as he rubbed his hand along his jaw, as though remembering how it had been dislocated. "That's...kinda put a damper on things, didn't it?" After Penny shot him a glare, he brought up his hands. "Not that I'm blaming him or anything!" He looked over at Snap sadly. "Do you..want to stop, Snap?"

Widening his eyes, the blue zoner shook his head. "N-No, of course not! I want to keep playing!"

"Are you sure?" Rudy spoke up. He grunted as he used his arms to push the wheelchair a little closer to his friend. "We don't have to keep playing if you don't feel up to it..."

"I'm telling you, I'm fine!" Snap winced as he noticed how bitter he sounded there. He didn't mean to sound like that. He shook his head and cleared his throat. He attempted to speak once more. But this time, he took care to speak more softly. "I mean... I don't want to ruin your day just because of my..."

"Snap, you could never ruin our day." Penny walked up to Snap and put her arm around him. "We were all there. We were all in it together, and we still are. You're our best friend. If you are not feeling up to continuing bowling, we can try doing something else to help you get your mind off of..her."

Snap looked over at the others. He saw how they were nodding their heads up and down in agreement with Penny. He couldn't help but smile at them, grateful that they understood. Still, he didn't feel that it was fair to stop the bowling just because he started having flashbacks. He opened his mouth to try to issue the game to continue...

...only to be suddenly interrupted by the sound of quacking and waddling feet something towards them.

"Hey! Great Creators! Hold up!" The penguin squawked at them. Ripclaw gave a low growl of curiosity as she lifted up her head and watched the penguin scurrying by her to get to the three humans and their blue superhero zoner friend. "I need to talk to you!"

Snap looked at the penguin curiously. He hadn't seen him before. He guessed he must be new. He kind of reminded him of that one penguin zoner who had tried to stop Pie Day. Only this guy was a little taller and skinnier than that guy was, and his voice was more high pitched, as though he were perpetually excited about something. The fact that he was wearing a badge indicated that he was some kind of law enforcer.

"Yes? What can we do for you?" Rudy moved his chair around to face the officer. "I can..."

But the penguin zoner didn't really look at him. Instead, he just shuffled past him and went right up to where Mint and Penny stood. This blatant ignoring of their friend did not go over so well for them. They immediately showed their displeasure by folding their arms and glaring at the penguin zoner.

The penguin zoner hardly seemed to notice. "I need your help with something." The penguin zoner then motioned his flipper towards the door. "There seems to be some trouble at Haney's Diner. I need you two creators to..."

"You mean, three creators..." Rudy spoke up, his embittered voice practically ringing in their ears.

The penguin zoner finally seemed to acknowledge Rudy. He stared over at the teenager bound in the wheelchair. Then he gave a simple shrug before he turned back to Penny and Mint, much to their displeasure. "Anyway, it's urgent that you..."

"Hey...hold on there. Why are you treating Rudy like that?" Snap asked. He had forgotten about his own troubles. He glared harshly at the penguin zoner, his arms still pressed against his body. "I do hope you have a good reason for deliberately ignoring him like that." He tapped his foot impatiently.

"He is still one of us, you know." Mint pointed out, showing just as much disapproval towards the penguin zoner as everyone else. "Just because he's in a wheelchair doesn't mean he can't help."

"Oh I know that. It's just..." The bird's voice trailed off.

"It's just...what?" Penny inquired as she leaned herself closer to him. "Is it because of the fact that, now that he's crippled, you don't think he's capable anymore?" Nevermind the fact that he wasn't around when Rudy could still walk. That still wasn't an excuse for how he was treating him.

The black and white bird immediately began to look nervous. "I-I'm sorry, I..." He pressed his flipper tips against each other. He gave Rudy a quick glance before he turned to face Penny and Mint, still looking more interested in them than poor Rudy. "Anyway, let me take you to Haney's Diner. I need your help to quell the crowd before things get out of hand."

"Hold on!" This time, when Rudy called, the black and white bird actually turned his head and looked at him, rather than full on ignoring him like he had before. "What's going on over there, anyway? Did someone get hurt?"

"Someone will get hurt if something is not done soon." The penguin zoner narrowed his eyes. "It seems that the owner, Haney, has fallen under suspicion."

"Suspicion...?" Snap struggled not to shudder at the memories that such a simple word brought to him. "What kind of suspicions...?"

"They think that he is following in Sandra's footsteps... And eating zoners."

The group of friends immediately gasped in horror at that. Their previous anger towards Rudy's treatment was replaced with raw terror. They stared at each other, sending one another silent messages as they tried to comprehend this.

Even though this could just be another false alarm like all the others had, that didn't weaken the impact that the very idea had suggested. None of them could ever forget the horror they felt when they discovered Sandra's so-called secret recipe. Snap could feel bile rising up inside his stomach when he was forced to remember that he had eaten Howdy, one of his best friends, without realizing it. And so many others... He felt so awful for them.

Snap had his doubts that Haney would do such a thing. But unfortunately, accusations against restaurant owners had become quite common since the incident with Sandra. And it was not hard to see why. The zoners were simply more on edge, and it wa hard to blame them for being extra cautious with the food industry lately in the wake of Sandra. It was just...how things had become now.

And it didn't look like it would settle down any time soon.

The black and white penguin stared at them for several moments. His face contorted into one of pleading. When he spoke, his tone had shifted to match how his face looked. "Please...I'm begging you. My attempts had failed and I don't want another potentially innocent zoner hurt. Please just...come with me.."

Snap glanced over at his friends. He noted the expressions on their faces. They still didn't speak to each other. There was really nothing to say. They all knew what they were going to do. They all knew what had to be done. They had to make sure that the citizens of the city did not get carried away. Not like how they did years ago, when they thought that Snap had...

Snap pushed aside those thoughts the best that he could. Focusing his attention on his friends, he gave them a nod, which they all returned. They all knew they had to do this. They felt like it was their job to ensure that a repeat of what happened years ago didn't rear its ugly head. None of them wanted another zoner to fall victim to false accusations the way that Snap had. And of course, none of them wanted the potential of another Sandra incident to happen. Not after the recovery the zoners had managed to go through.

So without further hesitation, Snap and his friends made their way towards the penguin zoner as he began to guide them out of the bowling alley. Ripclaw attempted to follow, but a few hushed words caused her to lay down on the concrete beside the building. Seeing her looking so sad was not easy, but Snap understood the need to leave her behind; her large, imposing presence may not do so well for peaceful negotiations.

Without another thought or word, the group of four followed the penguin zoner down the sidewalk.

sss

Oh why... Why did he have to do this...? True, he hadn't actually been the nicest guy. True, he had caused a lot of trouble in the past. But surely.. surely, he didn't deserve a fate like this.

"Hurry it up there! We need to get this food to her before our bosses kill us!" His partner shouted at him, his eyes narrowed into slits. "Stop being such a crybaby and get a move on!"

This didn't make him move any faster. The tension that swelled up inside of him caused him to slow down and he couldn't help but let out a small whimper. It was so hard to believe that, a few years ago, he had been a loyal follower to his king. And now this...

Okay sure, he wasn't exactly the most loyal. Okay fine, he was very disloyal. He had pined for the crown. He had tried to use the human creators to get what he wanted. He feigned being the victim. But really, given with how the king was, should it actually be considered a crime? If anything, he was trying to improve his kingdom. Why in the world did he deserve a fate like this?

But the king was not merciful. He had specifically chosen this task, for he felt that it was a fate worse than death.

He was right.

"Get going, Rondol!" His partner shouted. "Or do I have to wring your neck to make you move?!"

Rondol gulped nervously, bringing his arms against himself, his humanoid body trembling. It took a lot of will power to make himself move forward. Not even his partner's threats were enough to make him do anything. It took a strong, conscious effort to get anywhere near where Sandra was being held. It didn't matter that Sandra's cell was sealed behind a portal and contained high security. That did not make him feel any safer.

After a few painful long minutes of moving down the hallway, his body covered up in a protective suit, he and his partner did soon arrive at their destination. The end of the hallway where the door to the portal was located. Apparently this was a relocation of sorts, though the details as to why were never told to him. He assumed that Sandra tried to get out and failed, which left him feeling even more at unease doing this.

His partner rolled his eyes when he saw that he was not willing to press the digits required to get in. With a grumble, his partner pushed out in front of him and typed in the numbers. Each beep sounded worse and worse, as it meant that he was getting closer to hell. And when the doors opened up and the swirling portal was revealed, Rondol nearly felt like fainting.

So this is what it had come to for him. He had once been the king's advisor and was quite noble in his own eyes. Now he was reduced to being such a coward. He felt so ashamed. Yet he just...couldn't bring himself show much courage in this situation.

His partner grabbed his shoulder and pushed him. "Get through the portal! I am not going to leave your sorry ass behind!"

"B-But..you're the one with the food..." Rondol stammered. "M-M-Maybe you should..."

"Oh do I...?" His partner smirked darkly. Then without warning, he suddenly shoved the plate of food against him. Rondol let out a grunt and soon found himself being the one holding the plate. "Looks like you do."

Rondol's face paled in horror. "B-B-But..."

The other zoner rolled his eyes. "Oh come on. It won't be that bad! All you gotta do is walk in there, place the food down, and leave. Simple."

"But...Rum... What about..."

"Oh for the love of... She can't use her powers on you anymore! She is defenseless!"

"Yeah, right..."

"Just go!"

Rondol looked back at the portal, licking his lips slowly. He really didn't want to go through with this. All corners of his body was telling him to give the food back to Rum and make a run for it. He didn't care if he was fired. He only cared about getting away and living ot see another day.

Yet that was not an option for him. This wasn't just some plain old ordinary job. This was his punishment. If the king were to find out that he dissed out on his punishment...

With a cold wave of terror rushing through him, the feeling of wanting to throw up taking a hold, Rondol gripped the plate of food tightly and began to make his way towards the portal. His legs wobbled and shook and he was honestly amazed that he could even walk without falling. He could feel the heat and chill of the portal as he got closer. He paused for a moment, staring at the swirling vortex, licking his lips nervously. Then, giving Rum one more glance, he walked into the portal.

Going through the portal always felt so strange to him. This hadn't been the first time he was forced through here. It was like walking into a wall, and then being surrounded by a rather fuzzy sensation. Even almost...watery. It was so hard to explain. It just felt like many things at once, swirling about through his body, confusing the hell out of the nerves in his skin.

At least it only lasted a few seconds. All the swirly sensation and the disorienting colors did vanish quite quickly. He had to stop for a moment and shake his head before he was completely fine and able to walk. He looked down to make sure that Sandra's food was still in tact. He heard a blip kind of sound, a strange thing that came with this particular portal, and he looked behind him to see Rum walking up slowly behind him.

Rum narrowed his eyes further. "Well? What are you waiting for?" He motioned his hand forward. "Go on."

Rondol gulped and then looked out ahead of him. They were located now in a rocky tunnel. Swirling around and around as though dug out by a large machine. There was another door in front of him. A relatively new security feature likely do to an escape attempt by Sandra. The golden bars deterred her from entering and kept him and Rum safe. But that did not put him at much ease.

He walked slowly towards the bars, taking his time. He tried his best to ignore the irritated grunts of his partner. He could feel his own body shrinking, trembling harder, as he got closer. He could see the bars getting closer and closer to him, and he could practically feel their heat against his skin.

Once he got close enough, he stopped and looked at the lever. This was what needed to be pulled so he could get the food out to Sandra. But in that brief time, the blue dragon had a chance to get at him. If he were too slow...

"Just pull the fucking lever!"

Rondol nearly jumped when he heard his partner screech at him like this. He turned his head over his shoulder and gave Rum a glare. It was easy for him to act all brave. He wasn't the one being forced to feed one of the most notorious and dangerous zoners that had ever existed.

But there was really no point in arguing with him. It wasn't like he was going to listen. With a heavy sigh, Rondol turned his head back over to the lever. He licked his lips nervously and reached over with a shaky hand. He inched it over slight by slight, and then, swallowing hard, he grabbed onto it.

Suddenly, there was a loud screech echoing just outside the rocky walls. Rondol let out a scream and jumped back. He looked left and right, trying to find the source of the sound. He didn't hear it again, and as the seconds passed, he felt his breathing increase, his heart threatening to jump out of his chest. Then, just when he thought it had quieted down, he felt something snap and scrap, the sound of sharp talons wrapping around something...

Rondol shook his head, his teeth gritted. He couldn't handle this anymore. He backed up from the bars, his mind racing frantically. He was shaking so hard that he could no longer hold onto the plate of food. He ended up dropping it and ran away from the door, whimpering loudly. For the time being, he didn't care how cowardly he sounded. He just wanted to get away from there.

He didn't get far before Rum grabbed onto his shirt collar. Rondol grunted as he was pulled towards Rum's face. He stared at him with wide eyes and gritted teeth. He struggled to get free of his grasp. But Rum had always been the stronger of the two and he pulled him up into the air easily.

"Oh you coward!" Rum hissed softly. "Even when you can't get hurt, you still freak out!" He shook his head slowly. "I wish that king of yours thought of a better punishment than this. You're useless even here!"

Rondol didn't answer. He could only breathe in and out quickly, struggling to calm his racing heart. Rum glared at him harshly for several seconds before he simply dropped him. Rondol let out a grunt and rubbed his head and stared as Rum walked over to the plate of food. "Rum...?"

"Since you are not going to do it, I will." Rum grumbled. "Consider yourself lucky that I am not going to tell a soul about this."

"Rum, wait!" Rondol held out his hand, hoping to stop his partner. Even though they didn't like each other, he still didn't like the idea of Rum going out there alone. Not while she was there...

But Rum ignored him completely. With the plate seized tightly in his hands, he walked straight over to where the lever was. He did not hesitate to grab onto it and pull it down. With several cracks sounding out and the bars disabling, fading away entirely, Rum walked out of the safety of the tunnel and into the open area where Sandra laid.

Rondol felt himself shake even harder, which he didn't even know was possible. He pressed himself against the wall, his legs shaking so much that he was certain they were banging against each other. He watched the entrance carefully, licking his lips nervously as he looked for any sign of his partner. He couldn't hear anything and that only made him even more nervous. He gripped onto one of the sharp, rock interfaces stickin got of the side and hid behind it the best that he could. He didn't dare come out until he saw Rum coming back.

Which he did a short while later. With not much of a fanfare, either. No loud screeches. No shouts from Sandra. No claw scrapes. Just a disgruntled humanoid zoner coming back, now entirely devoid of the plate. No big event, nothing to get worried about. And the way that Rum glared at him as he pulled the lever to turn the beams back on made Rondol feel even worse for chickening out.

At least Rum didn't attempt to scold him further for it. Instead he merely took in a deep breath and sighed. Slowly, very slightly, he softened his expression at Rondol and placed his hand on his shoulder. "The deed is done now." He said. "Come on. Let's get going."

Rondol watched as his partner headed back toward the portal. He started to follow, and then paused for a moment. He turned his head and stared over at the entrance. He could have sworn that he heard Sandra's laughter over the sound of the beams. He shuddered, and then turned and rushed over to caught up to Rum.

He didn't want to stay here.

sss

Sandra couldn't help but smirk, spreading her slips across her reptilian face. Despite the glob of meat that had been presented before her, this wasn't what caught her interest. No, instead, her eyes shifted towards that blasted tunnel that had been recently constructed, guarding the entrance that would get her out of here. Through the indestructable tunnel, she had heard the sound of whimpering...and she had acted.

She wished that she had been able to see the reaction to her little playing. It wasn't like she could have done anything to the caretaker. That just made it all the more satisfying when a few little things, like her scraping against the wall, was enough to nearly make the guy wet himself.

Though all and all, it was more or less a..hollow victory. She didn't smile for long. She could feel the corners dropping down as she lowered her head. She once more stared at the food, the smell tantalizing her nostrils, making her mouth start to water. Yet it was all so bittersweet. How pathetic is it, that even the sight of her meals was enough to cause her to have flashbacks to...that time...

She felt a brief flash of hot anger rush through her body. She clutched her right hand tightly, nearly causing blood to be spurted out from her palm. She folded her ears against her head and her lips curled up to expose her sharp teeth, ready to rip into any flesh that she could get her hands on.

But that wouldn't happen any time soon, if ever. This had been her home for the past five years. She had never gotten out of here. Oh she tried... Oh how she tried... But she had always failed. There would always be something that would stop her from getting out. Usually always painful and so embarrassing.

Oh well. She shrugged it off. It was only a matter of timing, anyway. One day, she would find a way out of here. Perhaps not today or tomorrow. But someday...

In the meantime, she felt like releasing her frustrations against the meat glob here. She wanted something for her talons to tear into, and here it was, presented right before her. And the great thing about it is that it couldn't fight back. Although, on level, she wished that it would. It would be even more satisfying.

For a brief moment, she thought she could see Snap's face in the meat. Her eyes instantly widened up at this. Then, as she felt emotion rushing through her, making her shake, she gritted her teeth and nearly broke them. She stood there, trembling like a leaf, her mind rushing through several memories of that horrible little blue and white zoner. Then, releasing a loud roar, she launched herself at the piece of meat.

In a matter of seconds, her sharp teeth began to tear into the meat. She sank her teeth in deeply, piercing the flesh. She growled loudly as she pulled her head back and ripped out a large chunk of flesh. She swallowed it in a single bite, feeling it move down her gullet. She looked back down at the helpless hunk of meat as she drove her claws into it, causing the sides to leak of red fluid. Not blood, but it served for the same effect. Grinning almost maniacally, she began to lap away at the dripping fluids.

As she tore out another chunk and stared down at the slab of meat that she had gripped in her talons, her mind began to wander. She couldn't help but ponder a single question.

Just how was Snap and his human friends doing...?

The thought of Snap caused her to give a shudder. She gritted her teeth and growled. That stupid zoner's name had become like a curse word in her mind. Well his and Rudy's. Hearing a mere mention of either of their names was enough to make her want to strike a wall and break one of her own bones. The very thought that they were both running around free... She shuddered to think about it.

And to think that the zoners aren't doing a damn thing to...

Okay, she needed to calm herself down. She took in slow, steady breaths. She could feel her anger start to seep out of her finger tips as she settled down. She couldn't allow herself to get too worked up over this. Anger would not help her think all that well. The last thing she wanted to do was hinder her ability to properly. Or else, she will never get out of here. She had succeeded in calming her more savage self about two and a half years ago. She could not allow all that effort to go to waste.

And besides, she would get her chance one day. There was a saying that she had heard off and on. Nothing lasted forever. And that was something so true of her. So yeah, her business did not last long and she was found out and the zoners turned on her. But you know what they say...

The river runs in both directions.

And when it was time for her to get what she so richly deserved, she will be waiting with eager, open jaws.


	2. Just Another Routine

It feels like everyday stays the same. It's dragging me down and I can't pull away. So here I go again...

-Over And Over, Three Days Grace

sss

Rudy gave a grunt as he hit his wheelchair against the curb, which formed the start of the next sidewalk. With the aid of Mint, however, he was easily able to cross over it. After that, Rudy was able to take over just fine, pumping his arms against the wheels to propel himself forward.

He recalled how difficult it was using the wheelchair at first. It wasn't just the independence thing. It wasn't just mental. It was just...he wasn't used to using his arms for much other than drawing. Sure, there was the occasional exercise, but he had been using his legs for about a decade to get around. He had never thought that he would one day be stuck using his arms for the task. Then again, none of them did.

At least the soreness passed rather quickly. Well, more like a month, but still, he had adjusted a lot faster to using the wheelchair than he had expected it. In some ways, this was a benefit, as he could feel the muscles in his arms getting stronger, more rigid and capable. But on the other hand, he still hadn't been able to walk at all since...

He shuddered and pushed the thought away. He tried to shift his attention to their current destination and issue. But all that did was provide further reminders. After all, they were heading straight towards...that place.

Haney's Diner hadn't been around for that long. How long had it been? He'd want to say two to three months, though maybe it was around for even longer. And far as any of them knew, it was going to remain like that from now on. That was good. That place had gone through so much renovation, so many different purposes, he could have sworn that he had the sound of drills and other types of construction permanently etched into his head.

He and his friends continued on down the sidewalk. He was positioned a little behind, unable to move as fast as them. They would often slow down a little to let him catch up. The penguin zoner, on the other hand, just kept going, not seeming to bother to check to see if they were still keeping up with him.

Rudy gritted his teeth slightly at the memory of the penguin's actions before. It had something he had tried getting used to. The zoners just don't seem to think he was as dependable as he used to be. Or at least, that was the impression that he got. It was so irritating. He did do his best not to let it get to him so much, but honestly, that was getting harder and harder to do. He had a feeling that, one of these days, he was just going to snap at them.

His thoughts turned back to Haney's Diner. There was a good reason why he felt nervous about coming here. Even if it looked nothing like how it did before, he could not shake off the fact that...this was where Sandra's restaurant used to be...

He could feel another cold shudder. Haney's Diner...no, rather, that location, was a very significant place. Not just for him, but for his friends, too. That's where everything had gone down. That was where they all had suffered at the claws of Sandra. That was where Doofus Rudy had been killed, where Penny had her throat ripped out, where Mint got his jaw dislocated, where Snap had his stomach ripped open...

...it was where he had his neck broken by Sandra...

Rudy momentarily shut his eyes as he tried to deal with the rush of emotion that surged inside of him. He found himself clutching his throat for a second, imagining those sharp teeth in his neck once more. It took a lot of will power for him to move his hand away and get himself to keep moving his wheelchair forward. Perhaps he should have thought things through more before he decided to come along with them.

He still had nightmares about that day. The nightmares themselves weren't as frequent as they used to be. But when they did happen, they were always vivid, and he could have sworn he almost always woke up with a scream. He recalled at least twice, his parents had to rush into the bedroom and see how he was doing. He would try to calm them down and assure him he's all right, but they did not buy it. They wouldn't leave him alone for about ten minutes, just hugging him, kissing him, whatever they could to help him feel better.

But this was going to be a different experience. This wasn't like the dream, where he could just wake up and he'd be fine. He was going to the actual physical place that he had nearly been killed, where he had lost the use of his legs. Haney's Diner, even if the restaurant owner was nothing like Sandra, was going to bring back all kinds of horrible memories...

"But it's not true! I swear!"

"Don't give us that! We saw what happened!"

"Please, no!"

Rudy lifted his head up at the sound of several zoners shouting. He stared out ahead. He could not see anything yet. And judging from the looks on his friends' faces, neither could they. But they were getting close; they all recognized this infamous road that they used to take to visit Sandra. Rudy tried to ignore the bile at that memory as he cautiously sped his wheelchair up to see what was going on.

Before long, he and his friends managed to get close enough to see what was happening. And for several seconds, they couldn't help but freeze in shock, unable to believe what they were seeing.

It was almost like they had stepped back in time.

It wasn't because of the look of the restaurant. No, Haney's Diner looked quite different. It was a little smaller, was darker in color, and really had no windows aside from one long, thin one in the front. No, what had startled them was what was taking place right in front of the restaurant.

The first zoner they recognized was Haney himself. He was a rather tall zoner, though not quite the height of Skrawl or Jacko. This alone was enough to intimidate some of the zoners, but it was the fact that he was a dragon that really got under everyone's skin. True he wasn't blue and he was more chinese-styled than Sandra had been, but the fact that he was a dragon at all brought back a lot of rather...uncomfortable memories.

That wasn't the only thing that brought back memories, however. The zoners' reactions towards Haney also reminded them of another, rather uncomfortable memory of what had taken place back then.

"We all know what you did!" One of the zoners shouted.

"You can't hide it from us!" Another cried, raising his fist in the air. He looked over at the others. "Let's tear this place down and find out what he's hiding!"

"No! Please!" Haney gritted his teeth and shook his head. He looked so terrified of the crowd, his tail curling up between his legs. "Please..I haven't done anything!"

One of the zoners sneered at this. "That's what Sandra said, and look at what happened! How do we know that you're telling the truth?!"

Haney stammered, his lower lip quivering. He almost looked like he was about to cry. "P-Please...I..." His head turned over and his golden eyes seemed to catch the approaching newcomers. For a split second, a look of relief washed over him. "Oh thank goodness, the Great Creators!"

At this, the zoners that there interrogating the dragon zoner shifted their heads over to where Rudy and his friends were coming, led by the penguin officer. Some merely grumbled and frowned, others were indifferent, some were interested to see where things went from here, and others were even smirking, as though they were sure that they were going to side with them. But they all did the same thing upon their arrival: they had all fallen silent.

At least this was different from before. Rudy wished that the zoners that tried to lynch Snap would have done this instead of them having to nearly fight them to make them leave. Still, despite the fact that they had fallen silent and they were going to let them do what needed to be done, that didn't stop the uncomfortable memories from striking them.

Rudy couldn't help but stare over at Snap. He could see how his friend's demeanor had changed. While before, he was more or less relaxed, albeit recalling some sad memories. But here, he was clearly more on edge. Each step had gotten more and more rigid, and it looked like it was taking him a lot more effort to walk. Snap's expression practically glowed with nervousness, and Rudy knew that, if he had a choice, Snap would not be anywhere near them.

The other zoners reflected this as well. While many tried not to stare, some were glancing at Snap with looks that reflected remorse. Some glanced at each other and whispered, and Rudy had a feeling they were discussing how they had treated Snap before. Some of the zoners regretted how they treated the three creators, but it was Snap that they had mistreated the worst.

But them expressing remorse was hardly enough to settle down Snap. Rudy would have went over and pulled him into a hug if he werent trapped in the wheelchair. Instead, it was Penny who had done it. She looped an arm around him and pulled him close, whispering kindly to him and helping him move forward without tripping over himself. Rudy felt a pang in his heart that he couldn't do this himself, but he was glad that at least someone could comfort Snap.

Rudy resisted the temptation to glare at the zoners, resisted the urge to remind them of what they did. It wasn't going to do him, or anyone, any good. So instead, he just focused on the task at hand. He broke the silence before the penguin zoner had a chance to speak.

"So..what is going on here?"

The penguin zoner shifted his head over and glared at him. No surprise. Rudy had asked an unnecessary question. But oh well; it was the only one he could think of to break the ice and bet the ball rolling before these zoners ripped out Haney's throat.

One of the zoners, a snake-like one with legs, pointed an accusing claw over at Haney. "He's serving zoners! Just like Sandra had."

"Yeah! I saw it happen!" A dog-like zoner shouteda long with the other, her voice tinged in anger. "Get rid of him before he tries to..."

"Whoa whoa whoa! Wait, wait, wait!" Mint said quicklly. He had his hands raised up and was moving them back and forth quickly, trying to catch their attention and urge them to stop talking. When the zoners fell silent once more, Mint looked at them with furrowed eyes. He glanced over at Haney for a moment before looking back at the accusing zoners. "How...do you know of this?" He motioned towards Haney. "What has he done that makes you so sure that he did anything?"

At this, the zoners looked at one another. They murmured softly. A few them looked confused. Others were struggling to think of what to say.

Rudy narrowed his eyes at this. It was just as he figured. It was the same story as before. This had all become so routine, he was almost used to it. The zoners probably have no proof; they were only suspicious of Haney because he was a dragon. Just like how they were suspicious of previous restaurant owners for quite arbitery reasons.

One of the zoners managed to say, "W-Well...he mentioned how his meat never tastes the same.."

"Yeah! And that's what Sandra said!" Another zoner raised their finger up. "That can't be a coincidence!"

"He has to be hiding something!" Another shouted.

"Please! I'm not!" Haney raised his hands up, his small claws pressing against each other. "You've got to believe me! I would never do what Sandra did to you guys! When I said my meat changes taste, I had only meant that I use different spices every..."

A humanoid zoner turned and glared harshly over at Haney. "Oh shut up! Do you really think that we are going to buy that malarky?!" He shifted his intense glare over at the human creators. He pointed his finger roughly in Haney's direction. "Well? Aren't you going to get him arrested?!"

"Yeah!"

"Run him out of town!"

"Stop him!"

Rudy found his teeth grounding together. Now it was really starting to remind him of when Snap was accused so wrongfully. It would seem that these zoners had hardly changed a bit...

While he understood the increased paranoia after the incident with Sandra, he wished that they would take a moment and realize just what they were sounding like, what they were turning into. This is...just insane. They were turning against zoner after zoner for silly reasons, or even just based on rumors and heresay. How were they expected to move on if they didn't stop jumping down others' throats like this?

And worst of all, it had been five years... Five years, and this is how far they had come? Rudy had never felt so disgusted with the zoners in his entire life up until this point. At least under Sandra, they were influenced by her, with that darn Signal. But here, they were making the choice to become like this...

The penguin officer walked up a little further, raising his flippers up and trying to urge the zoners to be quiet. "Now, hold on there, everyone! Let's not get too hasty!" As the zoners slowly, reluctantly began to die down, the penguin officer continued, "The Great Creators will get everything settled out!" He paused, then he looked over his shoulders. His focus was mostly on Penny. "..will you, right?"

Penny looked at him, glanced over at the zoners, and then turned back to the penguin zoner. She nodded her head once. "Yeah. We will see what we can do."

"You see?" The penguin zoner turned to the crowd that had gathered around Haney's Diner. "Now, all of you, skedaddle! I will inform you of the news after everything's been settled, okay?"

"That's right!" Snap spoke up. Rudy stared down at him in surprise, not expecting to hear him speak to these zoners so quickly. "My friends and I will get to the bottom of what is going on, and if you give us a chance, I'm sure we will come up with a satisfactory answer for everyone! So please...give us some space so we can solve this problem."

Rudy had thought for sure that the zoners would be rather reluctant to leave. He thought that they were going to take a lot more convincing. He was glad to see that this wasn't the case. Though the zoners mumbled to themselves, looking rather upset that they couldn't stay, none of the zoners really tried to fight back against them. And slowly, they began to disperse.

Rudy wondered if this had any relation to what happened in the past. Perhaps recalling how they had hurt an innocent because they didn't listen was making these zoners more willing to consider their words. It was quite possible. Although he still wished that they would try to work on ther attitude a little.

But enough about that. He needed to turn his attentioni to Haney himself. He was going to need a little bit of reassurance after that. He needed to know that they were here to help and not persecute him.

Mint was the one who took charge of that. Rudy didn't mind. He gave a small smile towards Haney, as did Penny and Snap, as Mint moved closer to the dragon zoner. Despite his elation at their arrival, it was still quite apparent that he was nervous about this whole thing. He probably thought that they were going to start accusing him too.

Mint reached out with his hand slowly. "It is all right now. They are gone." Indeed, the zoners had dispersed rather quickly. The penguin zoner remained, though he held a neutral expression. "We are going to try to help you. But we need to know exactly what happened first. Are you willing to talk to us?"

The dragon zoner fumbled with his hands a little. He looked this way and that, his eyes looking like they couldn't stop darting. Then he stared back at them, almost hopefully. He gave a nod of his head. "Y-Yeah... I am..."

"Good..." Mint said. He gestured his head towards the restaurant. "Now..let's go inside for a little privacy. And we can discuss what happened."

sss

"And that's when they all decided to jump me!" The dragon zoner cried out, placing his small clawed hands against his face, shaking it back and forth. "I just...don't believe it. I hadn't done a thing to them and they already decided to jump down my throat as if I was truly capable of such an atrocity!"

Snap rolled his eyes. "Welcome to my world." He said in a slightly bitter tone.

Haney stared over at Snap for a few seconds. Slowly, he nodded his head and turned his head to the side. "My apologies."

"No need." Snap waved his hand back and forth. Then he motioned it towards him. "So...about this secret spice thing..."

"Yeah." Mint spoke up, tilting his head to one side. "You said it was a secret sauce of sorts?"

Haney nodded his head. He got up and he made his way over towards the corner of the room. "Yeah. It was passed down to me by..." The dragon zoner seemed to hesitate for a moment. Then he shook his head and cleared his throat. "Well, here it is anyway."

Penny thought it was a little strange that the zoner didn't finish that sentence. What had gotten him so nervous that he would clam up about it? That wasn't exactly a good idea to do if they were going to clear his name.

Oh well, she would worry about that later. Right now, the only goal was proving that he did not make the sauce out of other zoners. That is where the accusation laid. If they disproved that, there would no longer be a case against this zoner and they could walk away from this. At least for now, unless more evidence towards Haney were to be picked up. Possible, but at the same time, not extremely likely; the zoners rarely accused the same zoner on more than one occasion, especially after their innocense had been proven.

Penny leaned back against the wall and took a moment to look around the room while Haney brought over the small container that he had placed in the miniature fridge located in the corner. They were standing in what used to be Sandra's old kitchen. It had been changed around, becoming more...traditional. Gone were the more advanced machines, including that...grinder... She shuddered at that thought. And in its place was a more old fashioned cooking pot.

In fact, most of this kitchen was non-electrical. Sure there were a few things, like a stove and a refrigerator. But there was mostly traditional cooking materials here, making it quite clear to her that Haney could still cook, for the most part, if the electricity were to be cut off.

The fact that this kitchen no longer looked like Sandra's didn't really wipe the memory out of her mind. Penny did feel bad for constantly thinking about that dragon zoner. But she just couldn't help it. Everyone knows what kind of impact she had made on everyone. Nobody could fully get her out of their mind. She was practically everywhere in their thoughts and reminders were all over the place. Even just the act of walking down certain streets can't be accomplished without seeing some kidn of reminder of her presence.

Especially the street that used to be Shrapnel Tower...

Penny could feel a cold shudder rushing through her body at the memory of that place. She had never really been to Shrapnel Tower before, and a part of her was glad for it. It would have only made the memory a lot more painful...if she had remembered what it was like before. The only thing she could remember that place for was...

...as the place where Sandra had started her entire plan..

It was where countless zoners had been murdered for no good reason. It was where Sandra had hurt their friend, maimed him, and took away his memory. It was the start of those several nightmarish weeks. It was where this whole thing had begun. In some ways, this made Shrapnel Tower a place of memory, but not exactly the most honorable one.

Penny returned her attention to Haney as the dragon zoner came over with the container. She tried to shake off his vague resemblance to Sandra and focused on the container that he set on the long, wooden table that they were all standing near.

"This is it." Haney explained. He watched as Penny and the others leaned in a little closer, their eyes intently on the container as Haney slowly opened it up. "Now I admit it doesn't smell the greatest..."

As soon as he opened it up, the strong stench of...whatever the heck was in that thing, came out, wafering around their nostrils. Immediately, Penny and the others recoiled in disgust. The foul stench seemed to almost penetrate their very souls, and they found it impossible to escape. Even waving their hands in front of their faces wasn't enough to stop the smells from still getting through.

"But once added to food, it tastes divine!" Haney held his hand up, making a pose that was almost a mix of pride and excitement. He looked around and noticed the looks that everyone was giving him. He lowered his hand and gave a few nervous chuckles, as if realizing what he must look like right about now. He cleared his throat and said, "Well...anyway, trust me on this. It's perfectly safe, and I don't have to kill any zoners for it."

"You said it tasted different each time." Rudy spoke up. "And you do this with different herbs?"

"Indeed." Haney nodded his head a few times. "It's amazing how little a change in spices can result in the biggest alteration of taste." Haney placed his hands back around the container and offered a wide smile. "If you are all interested, I could show you and..."

Rudy shook his head, grimacing as he tried to lean as far away from the container as his wheelchair would allow. "No thanks. I'm not really hungry right now."

"And besides, we can't eat chalk food, remember?" Penny pointed out, raising a finger. Rudy and Mint nodded their heads in agreement, confirming her statement. This was one of the many times that they were glad that they could not taste chalk food.

Mint gave a playful smirk down at Snap. "Though Snap here could..."

Snap's eyes bulged at this and he whipped his head towards Mint to glare at him. "What are you saying?!"

Mint shrugged his shoulders. "Well, you were complaining about wanting something to eat, and that you were hungry and..."

"I'm not that hungry!"

"Anyway..." Penny spoke up before Mint and Snap could continue their little discussion. Bringing the topic back to base, she looked over at Haney and said, "...if you don't mind giving me that, I can run an analysis over it and..."

Haney looked reluctant at this suggestion. "I'm...not really sure about that..." He fumbled with his hands a little. "I never really let this leave my kitchen before." He spread his hands outward. "It's a secret and all that, and..." He paused for a moment, shifting his gaze to the side. "And well...I..."

Penny interrupted him. "I know. But if you want our help, you will have to give us this stuff."

"We can't run the tests in here." Mint pointed out, raising a finger. "We wouldn't want to accidentally ruin anything in here. You have such a nice set up. It would be a shame if something happened to it." He noticably flinched when he realized what he sounded like. Luckily, Haney didn't really seem to notice.

Rudy pushed his wheelchair a couple of inches towards Haney. "We have a place at the treehouse already set up. We can take the container there and run some tests, and we will be back with it pronto."

Haney stared at him with uncertainty. He still fumbled with his hands, a nervous wreck, as though he thought the mob of zoners was going to break down his door at any second. "Are you...sure about that...?" He asked with great hesitation.

Rudy smiled at him, clearly trying to look as reassuring as possible. "I promise, nothing is going to happen. We will not be long. Just give us..." His voice trailed off and he frowned. He turned his head and stared over at his friends, looking for help from them.

Mint and Snap just looked at each other and shrugged, unsure of what to say. But Penny had an idea.

"Twenty-four hours." She said. "I will try to have the results back in twenty four hours."

"A full twenty four hours?" Haney pulled his head back and tilted it to one side. He raised his lip up slightly, showing an expression of utter disbelief and uncertainty. "I'm..not really sure if I can buy that. Seems way too fast." He tilted his head further sideways, one of his eyes staring intently at Penny. "How about you give me a more realistic number?"

Penny licked her lips nervously. "That is the best that I can give. But..." She took a step forward, motioning his hand out towards the skeptical dragon zoner. "But we do still promise to give it back to you as soon as possible."

The dragon zoner still looked unsure. He kept glancing at his container and then back at her. He could only bare his teeth a little and let out a few soft, confused growls.

"Look, we can't help you if you don't cooperate." Penny pointed out. She could feel herself grow a tad irritated by this zoner's attitude. Though at the same time, she couldn't really be that angry at him; after all, he was threatened with practical death earlier.

Haney stared at the three children and superhero zoner for a couple of seconds before he let out a sigh and straightened himself up. Holding the container up a little higher, he murmured in a small voice, "I'm...still not so sure that I..."

"Hey pal, we told you that we would help you, but if you continue acting this way, then we can't do a thing!" Snap shouted at the zoner, clearly sounding that he was on his last patient nerve. "We told you what we need, and if you fail to provide us with that, then how in the world do you expect us to be of any service, huh?!"

Penny stared down at Snap, her eyes widened in slight surprise at his outburst. Then again, not like she could blame him. Given what happened before and what was being asked of them now... Yeah, it was little wonder that Snap didn't have as much patience for this stuff as he used to. Still, she wished that he didn't speak in quite so loud of a voice. They were trying to help Haney, not intimidate him. To try to soften things up a little, she spoke up, "Please...let us help you. Cooperate and let us help you through this. I promise...we promise, it will be all right."

Mint nodded his head in agreement. "It will be much easier if you just cooperate. If you continue fighting us on this, then we may just leave and let you handle this yourself." He raised his hand up in gesture. "After all, without being able to test that, we are helpless to stop those zoners from accusing you of being a killer."

"So why don't you just let us help you and give us that stuff?" Snap said. This time, he made more of an effort to sound gentle. "We will do what we can to help you, but we can't if you don't allow us access to what we need."

"It won't take long, we swear." Rudy moved himself even closer. Out of all of them, he had gotten the closest. His gentle gaze and soft smile was on Haney the whole time. "We will go as fast as we can. We will test the stuff that's in there. We promise, we won't tell a soul about what's inside." He raised a hand up, moving it from side to side. "Your secret is safe with us." He placed a hand against himself. "We will only taste to make sure that no zoner meat was used and publish those results."

Though Haney looked a little more relieved by this point, it still seemed as though he was uncertain. He made the reasoning behind this rather apparent when he spoke up again. "But...the other zoenrs... What if they demand a complete list of ingredients...?"

Rudy bit his lip at this, his smile faultering. "I'm...not sure. As the Great Creators, we might be obligued to tell them, if we are unable to convince them otherwise." Upon seeing Haney looked down at his container sadly, Rudy reached out and touched his shoulder, despite barely being close enough for it. "But we will deal with that when we come to it. I promise."

"Well..."

Everyone remained quiet as Haney started to think about this. He tapped his claw against his chin thoughtfully as he struggled to think of an answer. This process was going to take a while, they all could tell. Just when it looked like he was going to say something, he'd immediately withdraw and start thinking more about it.

Penny hoped that he didn't take too long on this, and she knew that her friends felt the same way, judging from their expressions. They did not have all day in the world to figure this out. They all recall how impatient the zoners can be when they are upset. They would need to figure out something as soon as possible to quell them, whether that be proving Haney's innocense or proving that he is a criminal and having him locked up. Either one would have equal impact on stopping those zoners in their tracks.

She could understand why he was having a hard time deciding, however. He was recently nearly attacked by several zoners and his nerves were still shot. It was quite hard to think under all of that pressure. She knew exactly how he felt. They all did. After all dealing with Sandra isn't exactly something that you could walk away unscathed from.

But still, hopefull this won't take too long so that she and her friends have something they could tell the zoners eventually. They did not want to say something like 'arrest him' when they had no proof, and they certainly couldn't lie either. True, he could turn out to be harmless, but..if they were to say he didn't do anything and then later it turned out that he did, what would that do to their public image? As the saying goes, honesty was the best policy.

Even if that honesty was not always the best.

"...all right then..."

Penny struggled not to sigh with relief when Haney, thankfully, didn't try to delay this process longer than it needed to be.

"I'll..I'll permit it..." Haney looked at the container, licking his lips slowly. "I admit, though..I had never let this thing leave my restaurant. It's...quite important to me..."

"We understand." Snap looked at him, offering up a reassuring smile. "We will take good care of it. And we will bring it right back when we are done."

Mint smiled as well, motioning his hand towards Haney. "We will not allow a soul to see it."

"You can trust us." Penny took a few steps towards the dragon zoner. "We will let nothing happen to it. And we promise, we will have the results as soon as possible. By the end of this all, your troubles will be over. This whole mess will be cleared up. I promise."

"It's going to be all right. I will see to it that everything runs smoothly. You have nothing to fear. It's going to be okay." Rudy once more touched the zoner's shoulder, this time making an effort to gently squeeze it. He then held out his hand motioning for the container. "Now...can we get started?"

Haney bit his lip for a few seconds. He looked at each of them in turn. Upon seeing the reassuring smiles from them all, he seemed to feel a little better, albeit still a little nervous. He licked his lips as he stared down at the container for a couple more seconds. Then, turning his attention back to Rudy, he gave a small, reluctant smile as he moved his hand towards Rudy and placed the container in his open, waiting hand.

"...please be quick." Haney whispered softly. "And gentle. That is my only copy that I have. I lose that and..."

"Don't worry. We will be careful with it." Rudy said as he placed the container on his lip. He turned his wheelchair over and he looked over at his friends. "Okay everyone! Let's get to the treehouse so we can analyze this as soon as possible!"

They didn't need to be told again. Without another word, without anymore hesitation, Penny and the others turned and began to head out of the door. After the others left, Penny did pause for a moment and stared over at Haney. She noticed how sad and nervous he looked, fidgeting with his feet. She gave him a sympathetic expression for a couple of seconds before heading out and shutting the door, catching up with her friends before they got too far.

Now that they had the container, they could finally get to the bottom of this and resolve this before it got any worse. She admitted, it was getting a little tiresome having to go through all of this just to help the zoners feel better.

But she had to remember one thing: there was always a chance that one of these accusations would turn out to be true.

sss

Snap made a 'eeeuugh' disgusted kind of sound when he cringed away from Ripclaw, who laid the closest to him, her body pressed up against the couch. He looked over at Mint, his eyes narrowed. "Geeze, Mint, why did you have to bring her along? She's going to tear up everything!"

Mint shot Snap a playful glare. "No she isn't. You are just being a little too paranoid."

Snap narrowed his eyes at this. "No I'm not! The last time you let her up in here, she destroyed my bed!"

Mint merely shrugged at this. "Hey, it's not my fault that your bed was made of weak stuff."

Snap growled softly at this. "Rudy drew that, you know!" He motioned towards his friend. "Do you know how long it took for him to draw me a new one?!" He leaned towards Mint, his eyes remaining narrowed. Though despite the anger, he was clearly not threatening Mint here. "Just...please keep her under control this time..okay?"

"Okay, okay, I will!" Mint raised his hands up, still smiling despite how upset Snap was getting. "I was only kidding you."

Snap let out a soft sigh. "I know... I didn't mean to get upset at you. It's just..." Snap's voice trailed off.

Mint softened up his expression. He allowed his smile to fade away this time. He gave a slow nod as he stared at Snap. "Yeah...I understand."

Mint understood perfectly well why Snap had reacted like that. Even if he didn't guess it the first time, the way Snap looked over at Rudy told everything. There was no mistaking that expression. It really had nothing to do with the bed at all. Rather, it had to do with Snap feeling guilty about asking Rudy for help in his...condition.

Mint shuddered briefly. He didn't really want to think like that. It was bad enough when the other zoners would dismiss Rudy just because he was in a wheelchair. It was like he wasn't the same Rudy anymore. Which wasn't true..at least not to the fullest extent. He might have more limitations now, but he was still Rudy. He could still help out in whatever way that he could. And he was still eager to do what he can to aid others. A couple busted legs didn't change that aspect of his personality.

But it might as well have. WIth the way the zoners started to ignore him and pay more attention to him and Penny, it was getting increasingly difficult for Rudy to be taken seriously by a portion of the zoner society. He and the others strived to change this, but it seemed that their words keep falling on deaf ears. It was quite a shame.

And with Snap... He recalled how Ripclaw had destroyed his bed at one point. His crack about it being weak was really just a lighthearted joke. He hadn't really meant it; Ripclaw was just way too heavy for it. He really should have kept a better eye on Ripclaw.

Snap had asked Rudy to help and...well, that almost ended in disaster. Mint didn't like thinking about it. He wished that he had been more persistant and get Rudy to let him do the drawing. But Rudy insisted, pushing himself beyond his current limits to draw a bed for Snap. He could see how awkward it was for him. He could see where he was having difficulties, and yet he was still such a trooper and insisted on doing it all on his own. It was hard to tell if it was truly perserverence, or stubbornness stemming from his desperation for independence.

Which was fine. He, Penny, and Snap want to see him get as independent as possible. Though he would never regain his full capabilities, a harsh reality they all had to accept whether they liked it or not, he still could continue to strive for more independence, doing more and more things on his own. Such as getting in the treehouse courtesy of a lift that he himself had drawn for his friend.

But still, Mint hoped that Rudy would not push himself too hard. He didn't want to see him overwork himself and collapse or something. He just wanted his friend to take it easy. Not rush into anything. Not do anything too drastic. Just...take it easy. That's all he wanted.

Whether or not Rudy would actually do that, though, was another story entirely.

Indeed, Rudy, at the moment, was moving his wheelchair over to where Penny was. A little too excitedly, it seemed, as though he was desperate to do something other than sit here and just stare. As he got closer, he called out Penny's name more than once, even though Penny had clearly already heard him. Yeah, it looks as if this will be another point where Rudy was going to try to exert himself just so that he didn't feel useless. It was quite heartbreaking to watch at times.

"Hey, is there anything that I can do?" Rudy asked as he moved his wheelchair until he was placed about three feet behind Penny. "I could maybe..."

"No, it's fine." Penny said quickly. She raised up her hand and stopped Rudy from advancing further. "Really, Rudy. I've got this. I will be fine."

Rudy furrowed his eyes with concern and uncertainty. "Are you...sure...?" Rudy licked his lips a little, his eyes darting to one side for a moment before turning back to her. "I mean, I don't mind trying to help you." He motioned his hand towards the table, which had some beakers, tubes, and other supplies Penny used for various testing. "I don't mind trying to..."

Penny turned her head and stared at Rudy. Her expression was stern, but also soft. She gave Rudy a gentle smile. "It's okay, Rudy. Really..." She placed the supplies she had in her hand down and went over towards Rudy. She reached out and she touched his shoulder gently. "I can handle this on my own."

Rudy lowered his head slightly. He looked like he was trying so hard to keep a straight face. But the dejected sigh did not go unnoticed, causing Penny's expression to shift to one of guilt. "Okay then..." With that, Rudy began to back his wheelchair away, moving back towards the couch where the others were waiting for the results.

Mint looked over at Rudy sadly, as did Snap. They both wanted to say something to him. Anything to cheer him up. But they couldn't really think of anything. What could they really say in this situation? It wasn't like Penny intentionally was trying to hurt him; it was just..she was used to handling this on her own and, well, Rudy didn't exactly have the kind of experience required for this delicate work. He understood that...right?

Mint found himself reaching out towards Rudy, wanting to comfort him. But he never could get his hand out that far. He did get pretty close, his fingers flexing. But soon, he'd pull his hand back and let it rest at his side. He lowered his head and sighed. He really couldn't think of anything to cheer up his friend. He felt so useless at the moment.

At least Snap was able to do something. The small blue and white zoner reached over and placed his hand on Rudy's arm, gently patting it. The two of them looked at each other. Mint couldn't really tell what kind of expression Rudy was making right now, and he couldn't really tell if they were saying anything or not. But he was certain of one thing. Snap would, even with just a simple expression, help Rudy feel better. And he was glad for that. At least someone could help out Rudy.

He shifted his own gaze towards Penny. Despite what happened, he wasn't angry with her. How could he be? It wasn't like she had done that out of malice, or out of genuine ignoring of him like the penguin officer had. If anything, he felt bad for her, and for two reasons.

The first one being how she had to reject Rudy's help. She didn't have much of a choice. And it wasn't because of his disability. He just..didn't have the knowledge for this, and she needed a lot of concentration. Rudy constantly asking her questions and trying to move around would break said concentration and potentially make things worse.

The other reason was because of the work that had been placed upon her. This wasn't the first time she had to do this, and it'd always take so long. It was little wonder why Rudy tried to help out this time. Penny really was exerting herself for the sake of proving innocense. Mint wished that she would accept some help, even if it was simple, like holding two beakers or something. But she was strict in her ways and it was like talking to a brick wall to get her to change that. So they stopped trying.

He did hope that this wouldn't take too long. The sooner they proved, or possibly disproven, this zoner's innocense, the better. And then they could get onto the next zoner, and then the next.. He was noticing a recurring theme here.

When he moved his jaw just a little, he immediately froze when he felt a phantom pain in the joints. He placed his hand against his jaw and gingerly rubbed it back and forth. He struggled to stop the memories of Sandra dislocating his jaw out of his mind. Yet they kept flashing in the back of his head, forcing him to relive it. This memory brought him both relief...and guilt all wrapped into a single, confusing emotion.

On the one hand, he recovered quite fast. He had been injured the least and he was able to return to ChalkZone very shortly later. But it was also because of this lack of harmful injury that made him feel guilty. After all, the others were all very nearly killed, and he got off scott free almost. It just...didn't seem fair...

"Ahhh! Mint! Get her off me!"

Mint shifted his head quickly over to the sound of Snap screaming. His heart raced really quickly inside his chest. What was going on? Were they being attacked?

Then he saw what was really happening. And when he did, he couldn't help but smirk, struggling not to laugh. For a brief moment, he had forgotten all about what was troubling him, and instead, he could feel himself inflating with amusement.

Ripclaw had decided that she got tired of laying around. Her body rose off the ground, her large form shaking a little as she stretched out her legs. Even though this treehouse was made to be larger to accomodate both her and Rudy's wheelchair access lift, the green raptor still felt...large in here. And with her on her feet she had moved closer to Snap.

The blue superhero zoner was pinned against the couch at this point, pressing her face against him. Snap was sputtering and shouting at her, pushing her back, but Ripclaw wouldn't relent. She started to lick him affectionately, which was followed by a giggle from Rudy.

"This isn't funny! Ew, this is so gross!" Snap placed his hand against Ripclaw's head and pushed her back harder. "Mint! Get your dinosaur away from me!"

Although it was tempting to let this continue, Mint decided that it was probably best to stop it. After all, Penny was trying to work and she couldn't concentrate with all this racket going on. So before Penny had time to speak, Mint got up from the couch and moved over towards Ripclaw. "Okay, girl, get off of him."

Mint grabbed onto Ripclaw around the neck and started to push back. Despite being larger than he was when he was eleven, Ripclaw was still a massive dinosaur and it still took some effort to push her away. She struggled a little against him, looking as though she was trying to grab onto Snap. Ultimately, she did obey him and she stopped fighting, allowing Mint to push her back.

"Why don't you go lay over there or something." Mint pointed over to a corner of the room, away from Snap. To his pleasure, Ripclaw obeyed immediately.

"Finally!" Snap wiped himself, trying to get all the saliva Ripclaw gave him from her licks off of him. "Gross..you have any idea how long this will take to clean off?!"

Mint, needing a bit of humor after his short, internal bout of depression and guilt, gave a sideways glance over at Ripclaw, occasionally casting a stare at Snap. "But perhaps after Penny is finished, I will let you hold onto Snap for a little while."

Snap stared at him with wide eyes, then slowly narrowed them. "Don't you dare!"

Mint gave a playful grin. He could hear Rudy's chuckling, signalling that he was feeling a little better. "I'm only joshing you, Snap. I won't let it happen. I swear!"

Snap still glared at him. Slowly, his expression did soften up. "Well...I hope so..."

Mint continued to smile at him. But eventually, his smile faded from his mouth. He turned his attention back to Penny, gritting his teeth. Despite knowing that this result would likely be a dud like all the others, he still couldn't help but feel a little anxious. He remained silent and waited for the results.

sss

The idea of rejecting Rudy's help was not something that Penny was very proud of. She didn't want to make him feel bad, or make him feel as though she didn't appreciate his help. Which was far from the case. She wanted his help whenever it was possible. But this just...wasn't one of those times.

It wasn't something she was proud of either. Everytime she said no to him, especially after the incident, she just felt...awful. She wanted to slap herself in the face for turning down Rudy. But it wasn't like she had a lot of choices here. Rudy's lack of experience could interfere with things. He would understand that...wouldn't he..?

She tried her best not to allow her emotions get in the way of progress, however. Despite how she felt, she had to concentrate on the work before her. She had to figure out about the contents of this container before time was up. Twenty-four hours might seem like a long time, but to run all the tests...

She quickly realized that she should have given herself more time. She should have told that zoner that she may take a while longer before she could give him any kind of result. It seemed like Haney had expected this all along, but...still...she did not really feel comfortable with calling him and telling him about a possible delay. So she just pushed herself forward and...well, if it came to that, they would cross that bridge when they get there. Right now, top priority was testing this stuff out.

Penny stared down at the container that she had open for a while. The horrible smell filled her nostrils, and she struggled not to gag or throw up. She tried to maintain a professional attitude. Even in the wake of Mint and Rudy's laughing and Snap's shouting, she still managed to keep her attention focused on the task at hand.

Using various tools she had taken out samples of the material and placed it under a microscope. This was the first line she went to, to see if the cell structure helped. Often times, it didn't, at least not as much as in the Real World, since zoners were quite varied in shape and size and even what species they were meant to represent, some even being inanimate or vegeteable. So further analysis was required. But this still gave her an idea of what she was looking for.

Ah so it was made out of plant material. Similar to herbs. This did fit in with Haney's story quite well. And it was true; some plants were pretty smelly, but did not taste bad on food. This alone could be enough to free Haney of the accusations, but she knew she had go to even further. She needed to deconstruct the genetics of this thing and prove to the zoners, without a doubt, that Haney was completely innocent.

So that meant even more testing. She tried not to groan at the thought. She knew that this was necessary. So slowly, she turned her head to the nearest beaker. She stared at it for a couple of seconds before reaching out and grabbing into it. She might as well get this over with. Bringing over a sample of the stuff, she dropped it in. Taking another fluid, she allowed a drop to enter, and the analysis soon began.

This went on for a while. She didn't care to keep track of the time. She didn't care to remember all of the steps. She could see herself using other types of chemicals. She could see her taking out more and more of the stuff in the container when she needed it. But it all rapidly became a blur. She was hardly aware of anything. She did not even notice that Rudy, Snap, Mint, and Ripclaw had fallen asleep. Had it really been five hours already...?

Regardless, she still pushed herself forward. She needed to get this done. She was making some good progress. She was getting close. If she kept kept this up, maybe she would be done ahead of time. She had only scratched the surface; she would need to keep herself moving at this steady rate. If she was lucky, maybe she would be able to finish this within the hour. Wishful thinking, but it still drove her to at least try.

Then at last, it seemed everything was starting to come together. She had gotten a ton of results at this point. Her paper was filled with various marks, indicating the discoveries that she had made. She had a stack full of them, indicating every tiny detail that she managed to notice. She had to use about thirty to forty percent of this stuff, but it was worth it in the end. The results were on paper now, plain as day for her or anyone else to see.

She stared down at the results for several long moments, her steady breath being the only sound that she could hear. There was no mistaking it. There wasn't another possible explaination. Even if she were to analyze again, it wouldn't change the facts that she was seeing here.

The result was...


	3. The Prison

Obeying the crown was a sinister price!

-Hand Of Sorrow, Within Temptation

sss

So it had come down to this.

Just like it always had.

Penny took in a deep breath and sighed as she stared at the scene before her. She was not at all surprised by how many zoners had shown up for this announcement. She had promised to deliver in twenty-four hours, and she did. Or at least, she thought so... Oh well, what did it matter? She was here now and that was all there is to it.

She and her friends stood in front of Haney's Diner. An easy place for the other zoners to find. Even with the podium that she drew for herself to use, it was still difficult to see everyone that had arrived here. Not that it was going to be a problem; the megaphone that she drew for herself would work just fine in ensuring that even the zoners in the back were aware of what she was saying.

She gripped the megaphone in her hand tightly, struggling to think of just what she was going to say. She had to make sure that she worded everything carefully. There could not be a single room for doubt, otherwise the zoners might pick it apart, forcing her and her friends to defend their point.

She looked down at where her friends were. They had positioned themselves to her left, their eyes firmly on the crowd as they tried to see if anyone was trying to cause problems. Rudy sat tightly in his wheelchair with his magic chalk raised. Mint had one leg moved forward, his magic chalk tightly clutched in his left hand, and Snap had his fists tightened and slightly raised, looking as if he was ready to tear into the zoners any second if they dared to get any closer.

And on her right stood Haney. She could tell, even from this angle, that he looked quite nervous, and she could not blame him in the slightest. Not with how all these zoners were just...glaring at him like this. Not with the way they looked as if they were going to rip him into shreds. She bit her lip as she watched how terrified he looked. She wanted to comfort him, but right now, she needed to focus on delivering the news.

She looked down at her hand, where she clutched the piece of paper with the results. She licked her lips slowly. This should be an easy thing to say, but often, she was almost...afraid. There was always that chance that there would be a rejection to her 'diagnosis' and she would be confronted by several angry zoners.

But she had to say something and quick. Otherwise, this crowd was going to get restless anyway. She took in a deep breath and sighed softly.

Well, here it goes.

"I thank you all for coming here. As promised, I was able to test Haney's secret sauce and I have the results right here." Penny unfolded the piece of paper, its flapping sound quite audible to even the further back zoners thanks to the microphone. "I had tested and retested the sauce and I have come to one conclusion."

She gave a pause for a bit of drama, though mostly to allow this to sink into everyone's minds. She took a moment and looked around, seeing all of their faces. The zoners were watching her intently. A few of them were looking at Haney, as though eager to tear into him. And poor Haney was trembling like a leaf. He was constantly looking from the zoner crowd and up to Penny, his eyes looking as if they were giving a silent plea.

And Penny answered that plea.

"I am not allowed to divulge just what was in the secret sauce. After all, it is a secret. But..." Penny raised her hand up in gesture. "I can guarantee you that, after so many tests and retests, there is absolutely no trace of any zoner DNA in his concoction. Haney is innocent."

Silence fell upon the area. The excited murmurs that the zoners had been giving quickly died down. With wide eyes, they stared at one another, scratching their heads. It looked as though they were having a hard time fully comprehending this. It was as if they had been presented with something that surely must be a myth.

But as Penny and her friends remained silent, staring with narrowed eyes intently into the crowd, it become increasingly clear to the zoners that they weren't joking about this. And as soon as it become quite obvious this was, indeed, the prognosis, they began to murmur amongst each other in what could best be described as...disappointment.

"He...didn't do anything...?" One zoner asked.

"But..But we were so sure!" A dog-like zoner exclaimed as she clutched her head. "It just doesn't make any sense!"

Another zoner stared at her, his solid black eyes reflecting something. "I know how you feel, but...the Great Creators did do the tests and..." He shrugged. "I think we will just have to accept it."

"But everything made so much sense! I mean... Haney could easily play the part of..." A stick figure zoner mentioned.

Another stick figure cut him off. "But like he said, we can't argue. If the test results really show that Haney is innocent... Well, there's not much that we can do about that, right?"

One zoner grumbled, "I still say she tested it wrong."

Rudy, Mint, and Snap growled at that last comment. Penny was glad to see that they didn't attempt to shout at the zoners. The last thing they needed was some kind of fight breaking out. If the zoners had a hard time accepting this truth, then that was on them. They could deal with it. The only time that she would think they should interfere again is if the zoners start getting violent again.

Which they weren't. They were just...confused and uncertain. Some looked shocked and others were in disbelief, and some were pissed off. There were even a few that were horrified, as it meant that, as they realized, they had nearly harmed another innocent.

Just like they had with Snap all those years ago...

Although there were never as many in the crowd as others, Penny did sometimes feel something close to fear regarding the zoners that were angry about the results that she would give. It would seem that some of the zoners were a little too eager to dish out justice...and it was quite terrifying.

Especially considering the fact that said zoners could become even more dangerous than most of the villains that they faced. These zoners were likely fueled by the desire for revenge regarding what Sandra did. They might not have gotten a chance to attack her, so now they were focusing their rage elsewhere. If she and her friends weren't careful, these zoners would tear apart anyone just so that they could get their thirst for revenge out of the way.

Haney was the one who eventually broke the silence. Gone was the terrified, frightened zoner, and in his place stood someone who was a little too confident for his own good. "See?! I told you I was innocent! Hah! Take that, you doubters!" He pointed a claw towards the group of zoners in an excited manner. The other zoners growled at him, but this did not cause his demeanor to faulter in the slightest.

Thankfully, Snap was able to say something before things got any worse. "Hey now! Try to keep yourself calm, okay buddy?" Snap said as he walked over towards the overly excited dragon. When he got his attention, Snap continued, "You wouldn't want to jinx it, would you?"

The dragon zoner paused for a moment, considering what Snap was saying. He lowered his gaze towards the ground for a couple of seconds before he said softly, "Yeah...you're right. I'm...I'm sorry..."

"Hey don't sweat it!" Snap gave him a small pat on his arm. For a split second, it looked as if the blue zoner had gotten nervous. But whatever had caused him to freeze him didn't appear to bother him anymore, and he quickly returned to his more cheerful self. "Now why don't you run along back in the restaurant and return to work?"

"That sounds like a good idea." Rudy said as he moved himself towards Haney. He stared at him in the eyes for a couple of seconds before he continued, "Just try to stay out of trouble, all right? And if something else happens, let us know, okay?"

Haney nodded his head. "I understand."

Rudy smiled at this. Before he could speak, Mint had walked up to his side, positioning himself right beside him. "Don't worry! We will be glad to help you if something else comes up!" Mint smiled down at Rudy before looping an arm around him, pulling him into a half hug. "Isn't that right?"

Rudy grunted at this sudden hug. He did nothing to fight back against it other than a small cringe. He managed to give a smile back at his friend. "Yes, of course."

Penny watched this for a couple of seconds before shaking her head slowly. She turned her head away and looked back at the zoners. Despite what had been told to them, they still hadn't left yet. They were just..standing around, looking at them as though waiting for something else to be said. Penny gave a small groan at this. Were they really that unaccepting of her saying that Haney was innocent?

She had come to expect this, anyway. Sometimes their word for it just didn't cut it. It was still an issue that plagued ChalkZone City. While understandable, this was getting quite tiresome. If these zoners didn't stop acting so paranoid... But then, what could she and her friends say to sway them otherwise?

Penny tapped against the microphone to make sure that she had the zoners' attention once more. "And of course, if anyone spots something suspicious, or even see a terrifying act take place, you can still report to us. We are here to help all of you." She had hoped that this would quell them, but it would seem that, for a few, this was not going to be the case.

"Oh yeah? Then why did you let him free?" A zebra-like zoner pointed her hooved hand towards Haney. "You know that he's guilty and yet you still let him off scott free!"

"But..." Another zoner stared at her in shock, her own eyes wide. "Penny did say that she tested it and..."

"She's lying! She's obviously in cahoots with him!" The zebra-like zoner snapped, gritting her teeth. She turned and stared into Penny's eyes. "Aren't you, you little bitch? You're part of this whole conspiracy! You're just waiting for the right moment to strike!"

Penny stared at the zebra zoner in shock, her mouth having dropped open. She wasn't sure what to say or do in response to this. All she could do was just stare at the zoner as her accusations filled her head. Never before had she and her friends been accused of a conspiracy. This was just...unprecedented.

"Furthermore, you..."

"Oh shut up!"

The zebra zoner hissed when one of the cat-like zoners struck her across the face. She took a step back, rubbing her hand back and forth along her cheek. She glared at her attacker. "What the hell was that for?!"

The cat zoner merely snarled at her, pulling his lips back and showing off his sharp teeth. "Enough with the accusations!"

The zebra zoner merely scoffed. "You're just blind! You'll see! You will all see!" She glared back at Penny. "She is a traitor!"

Although the zebra zoner was silenced by several other zoners in the crowd, either defending Penny and her friends or just getting sick of the zebra's attitude, that didn't really change Penny's current state of mind.

The realization that the zoners had gotten so tense that some of them were starting to turn against them weighed heavily on her mind. With a cold chill rushing through her body, she couldn't help but feel reminded of what happened years ago. Oh there were plenty of things, but there was one particular moment that she couldn't help but think of in this situation.

And that was when she, Rudy, and Mint had been chased by that mob. She had struggled to forget about it, but..how could she? Even when she closed her eyes, there were times when she could see it in her mind. Wild zoners afflicted heavily by the Signal, driving them to attack her and her friends... No, she would never forget it.

Especially not now.

The situation was growing ever dire now. She knew that she and her friends were going to have to address this increased aggression soon enough. She wasn't sure how yet, but if they were able to come up with some kind of maxium security solution that would give back 100 percent positve results, then perhaps the zoners would be satisfied, including the more aggressive ones. There was still that chance that a rogue zoner could try something, but to quell as many as possible would at least minimize the threat.

Penny decided it was best not to stick around for any longer. She had said her piece. The zoners got the message. Haney can go back to work. Some of the zoners were already leaving. Now was a good time to just pack up and leave. No need to stay around for longer than she needed to.

She didn't bother doing anything with the podium or the microphone placed against it. She didn't bother saying another word other than a simple 'goodbye' and she began to walk away towards the left, where Rudy and Mint were still positioned.

"Penny...?" Rudy asked as he reached out with his hand. She stared down at him and noted his sympathetic expression. "Are you..okay...?"

Mint looked at her with concern. "Yeah... That was quite harsh. I hope you didn't let it go to your head. Don't listen to what she says, okay?"

Penny didn't bother answering them. She wasn't really angry that they said nothing to defend her; the zoners were doing that already, not giving either them, nor Snap, a chance to speak up for her. But, at the moment, she was still too shaken up to really say anything to them. She simply turned her head away and continued to walk down the street.

At this point, Snap had returned to Mint and Rudy's side. She could hear his pitter patter of his feet. Then she could hear a shout come from him. "Hey, Buckette! Wait!"

She didn't attempt to look back at him. She didn't try to speak. She just focused on walking. If she were going to discuss this, she would much rather do it somewhere else. Away from here. Somewhere more private, like Snap's home, or that treehouse they often used. Or even deep within one of the nearby forests where the citizens of the city didn't often tread.

She was thankful that the others didn't attempt to stop her or slow her down. Rather than continue fighting, they started to follow her. She knew this because not only did she hear the tapping of feet, but she could hear Rudy grunting as he pushed his wheelchair forward, the wheels skidding a little against the concrete surface. A part of her did feel bad for not speaking to her friends right now. She would just...much rather do it when they were alone. That's all. They'd understand that.

So with the sound of arguing zoners and a smug Haney announcing his victory fading slowly into the background as they gained distance between them, the group of friends walked away, heading back towards the treehouse.

sss

Skrawl grumbled as he leaned himself against his creaking bed. The strong smells all around him intermingled, invading his nostrils relentlessly. He struggled not to allow it to make him feel sick. But it was quite too late for that wasn't it?

Years too late, that is.

He wasn't even sure how long he had been trapped here. Far too long, if one were to ask him. He shouldn't be in this wretched place. He should be out there, terrorizing everyone. He should be trying to take over ChalkZone. He should be planning his revenge against Rudy and his pitiful pals. And instead he was stuck...here. Of all the rotten luck.

He had no idea things would have gone this way for him. He didn't realize that his last attempt would have backfired in such a way. After his near success, which had been botched by Snap's interference, he had tried again, roughly three years ago, if he were to have a guess on time scale. But not only did this fail utterly, but he had ended up captured...again. He had been able to escape from prison the first time. But this time around, he hadn't been so lucky.

He had been sent to one of the highest security prisons in the nearby land. From his barred window, he could see bits of ChalkZone City. He grimaced at the sight of it. This window, being able to see to the outside world, did nothing more than remind him of his failures. It caused him to fill up with rage and he could feel his body tremble. Oh how he longed to be free...and yet there was nothing that he could do.

He had already tried to escape from this place once. It not only ended in failure, but he was damn near lucky that he didn't end up with a worse sentence. This place was just crawling with security. Cameras, heat sensors, hidden lasers, dogs, traps. You name it, this place had it. It was little wonder that here, even the toughest-looking prisoner was a mess.

Skrawl was one of the few who still had something of an attitude. Even if he couldn't attack his captors with this shock collar on him, he could still insult them. He was rarely punished for that, though he wondered if it was only because they were amused by the whole thing. After all, it wasn't like he could even follow through with any of his attacks.

Skrawl let out a low growl at this, his large teeth gritting against one another. This just wasn't fair. He was supposed to be the ruler of ChalkZone. He should be the one commanding everyone here. He shouldn't be the prisoner. He deserved to be far more than this. Oh so much more...

His Beanie Boys were still free at least. Though those blockheads hadn't even tried to save him yet. He wasn't sure if it was because they didn't come up with a plan, or they were scared. Or even because they had attempted but kept failing over and over again. He hoped that it was the latter. He hated to think that his Beanie Boys would be so incompetent that they wouldn't try to save him. After all, he was the one who rescued them and gave them a new purpose in life.

He let out a small sigh and collapsed himself against his bed. He ignored the loud squeaking that this made. He turned his head up towards the dirty ceiling, covered in dark marks and a few spots where it dripped. He had been placed in one of the older cells. Though this cell looked as if it were starting to fall apart, that didn't really matter. This place was a lot sturdier than it looked. Even a weakened room like this was more than enough to keep him trapped inside.

How lovely...

He allowed his mind to wander a little as he tried to think of just where he had gone wrong in the past. There was one particular point in time where he had nearly won. He had gotten so close, and victory was practically in his claws. And yet, in the end, he still utterly lost.

When he had gotten those ancient artifacts, he had been a practical being of power. It had been so easy collecting them with Mint's help. The naive little boy hadn't been that difficult to manipulate. With him keeping Rudy, Penny, and Snap busy, he was free to steal the artifacts until he had gotten all of them. He remembered the power that he felt, the things that he could do, the way that he had been able to put even Rudy Tabootie, the Great Creator, at bay.

But that all went downhill because he had forgotten one important factor: Mint Zandophen.

Well sort of. It wasn't that he had forgotten about him. It was just... He hadn't been able to keep him as under control as he thought. He had believed so foolishly that his 'ChalkZone is a virtual reality game' would have been enough to keep Mint under his command. But at some point, Mint's loyalt with him faultered, and he had turned against him. The one that he had been led to believe was his NPC guide.

At first, Skrawl had no idea why this had happened. Mint had been so loyal before. He had been furious when the brat changed sides. But the more he thought about it the more he realized that it might have been his fault that Mint turned against him. If he hadn't struck him...

Oh sure, Mint deserved to get hit when he showed mercy when he should not have. But...yet...at the same time... That could have been the moment where he had really screwed up. If he had just kept it to yelling at Mint, then perhaps things could have been different. When he attacked Mint, he had pretty much proven to the boy that you could get hurt in this world, which must have been a key factor in shattering Mint's delusion that he had tried so hard to build up for him. Skrawl had himself to blame for this as well. Not that he would admit it, of course.

And now he was stuck here with no way out. Stuck in a place where he was mistreated on a daily basis. Oh he had tried his best to cope and ignore them. But that was getting harder and harder by the day. With this shock collar, he could hurt no one and his threats were falling on deaf ears, increasing in number was the days passed by. And it wasn't like he was the only one.

From what he had witnessed, this place seemed to have something of a pecking order. Almost everyone had someone else that picked on them. The further down the 'food chain' someone was, the more people that picked on them. The ones at the bottom.. Skrawl was not fully aware of what happened to them, although he thought he heard rumors that they kill themselves to escape the torment of having everyone gang up on them and...well, there were certain things that even Skrawl would never consider doing.

Skrawl himself was...sort of one of the luckier ones. He wasn't on the bottom of the pecking order, having established himself quite well. But there were still many stronger zoners here who licked to pick on him and beat him up at least once a week. He was getting quite used to the bruises that covered his body. He wondered if they would even become permanent marks.

He bared his teeth and let out a soft growl. One of these days, he would get out of this wretched prison. He did not belong here. Everyone in this place knew this, even if they did not admit it themselves. Not only did he not belong here, but he should be the one commanding everyone. He should be the big shot. He should be the one controlling what everyone was doing all across ChalkZone. After what Rudy did to him, it was the least that he himself deserved.

But of course, the first step came in getting out of here. And that wasn't something that he had quite figured out yet. He was certain that he would think of something in time. He just...needed to be patient. That was all. Good and patient. And eventually he would get rewarded.

He looked forward to facing off against Rudy and his pitiful friends again. He would love to be able to get another round in with them. He wanted to have another shot at them. And this time, he would not be so merciful. It would not be like last time, with the artifacts and with Mint. He shuddered at the memory. Oh gawd yes, things would be so much different.

He should have just killed Mint when he had the chance. As soon as he had that last artifact, he should have just killed Mint. Hunt him down and kill him. He should have done something with that temple that he had sent Mint to, ensuring that he would have been killed in the process. Or even at the hospital when he had Mint alone. He had him in his grasp, yet he didn't bother trying to crush his throat then. He had the chance...

But this time, he would not miss that opportunity. As soon as he got out of here, Mint was going to be the first one to go. He had the gall to turn against his leader, the one who had given him purpose in this world. He deserved to be the first one to leave.

Of course, he had no idea when this was going to happen. He still needed to formulate some kind of affective plan to get out of here. He had to study more things about this place. The way the guards move, the dogs, the way the security is set up and where the power came from. Only after fully analyzing everything, which would take a long time given his lack of access to it, would he be able to figure out a way to get out of here.

But he would at some point. He was Skrawl, after all. The future ruler of ChalkZone.

He always found a way out.

Without realizing that he was doing it, Skrawl let out a few small chuckles as he started to get a little too carried away in imagining what he was going to do to Mint once he got his claws on him. With a dark laugh, he clutched his fists tightly and grunted loudly. In his mind, he was imagining snapping Mint's neck in two, and the thought filled him with such maniacal glee. He couldn't wait for the real thing. He...

"Hey! Will you stop it?!"

Skrawl let out a loud grunt of pain when something struck him from above. Or rather from the side, when a large scaly fist struck him against the side of his head. Skrawl shook his head and rubbed it gingerly, wincing at the bruise that had already started to form.

"Hey, watch it, will you?!" Skrawl snapped. "There was no need to..."

Skrawl fell silent at the heavy squeaking above him. He could see dark green legs dangling in front of him, and he felt the bunk bed shift. In a matter of seconds, there was a loud grunt and a loud smack against the ground as his cell mate jumped down. Then slowly, he turned his head and glared down at him.

Skrawl found himself gulping a little and cringing slightly. If there was one thing that could fill him with fear, it was his cell mate. He might not admit it, but even his cell mate could tell that he was afraid of him.

But it wasn't simply his cell mate's appearance. Sure, the large, dark green crocodile was certainly imposing to look at. Thick muscles, razor sharp claws, a long mouth of bone crushing teeth, bright yellow eyes glaring down at him. His long, thick tail swooshed behind him, perfectly capable of snapping legs in two if he so desired. Yes, truly this guy was someone that had seen a lot of fighting and could hold his own even if the odds appeared to be against him.

No, the actual reason Skrawl feared him was because he was helpless. He was stuck wearing a shock collar. Well so was his cell mate. In fact, he was from the percentage of this place that wore them, deemed one of the most dangerous. But this guy could handle a lot more pain than Skrawl could. Thicker skin, a tougher attitude, his body covered in battle scars indicating a history much rougher than even Skrawl had ever endured. With this collar on, Skrawl could not easily fight him, but his cell mate had absolutely no issues in fighting him.

"What...did you say to me...?" The crocodile zoner asked. His voice was deep and gruff, and almost serene-sounding. This contradiction in voice was enough to make Skrawl's legs tremble. At Skrawl's lack of a response, the croc gave a dark smirk. "Oh come now, I know you can still talk. I know you have your reasons for what you did. So come on..." He tilted his head to one side. "Tell me..."

"I-I..." Skrawl stammered for a couple of seconds. He then cleared his throat and swallowed. He narrowed his eyes. He struggled his best not to show this guy fear or give him more control than he already had. He did have to think about his dignity, after all. No one would take him seriously as leader if he allowed himself to be so easily intimidated. "That is none of your business, reptile breath. I would sooner lose one of my antennas than tell the likes of you anything.. urgk!"

Skrawl grunted as he felt the large, green zoner grab him by his throat. He was forced up into the air, dangling by his feet. Skrawl gritted his teeth and grabbed at the croc's hands, trying to make him let go. He stared at the beast with wide eyes, filled with desperation and fear. He knew that all it would take was a bit of a tighter squeeze and this guy could easily rip his throat out. He tried to claw back at him, but his puny claws were no match for the thick skin. He couldn't even get a small scratch in. And that was the only reason his shock collar didn't pump him full of electricity yet.

The crocodile zoner laughed at Skrawl's pitiful attempts to get free. "Here you are, the so-called 'future ruler of ChalkZone', terrified and hanging at my mercy. You know, perhaps I should take your place. I would make a much more suitable ruler than you..." The crocodile zoner brought Skrawl close to his face, his slit pupils starting straight into him. "...don't you think...?"

Skrawl didn't dare try to answer. Even if he did have something he could say, he wouldn't dare do. He had learned the hard way that he should be careful around this zoner while he was in this predicament. One day, he would get his revenge against Greenhide here. But today wasn't that day.

"It is so pitiful, really." Greenhide said as he hissed through his sharp, clenched teeth. "I would have expected you to have something of a backbone.. But I see that I was sorely mistaken. You really are just a pathetic little jellybean, aren't you?"

At this, Skrawl managed to glare at the crocodile. "Th-That's not..." He grunted. His third limb, which dangled, kicked out in desperation. "Now you see here! I accomplished more than you could ever..."

Greenhide let out a booming laugh. It was enough to stop Skrawl and silence him. He could feel his heart nearly stop beating when Greenhide gave him a glinting look, a malicious smile spreading across his face. "Oh really now? Maybe I should put that to the test..."

Skrawl's eyes widened in horror at this. He did feel sick doing that. He never wanted to show weakness towards anyone. But with this crocodile, in his current situation, there was little he could do to stop himself from feeling fear. Because for all his arrogance, he was not stupid. Even he knew when it was best to be afraid, and when it was foolish not to be.

Unable to say anything, the only thing that Skrawl could do was lower his head. It hurt him to do this. This was far from who he used to be. Lowering his head and cowering like this, hoping to get out of this situation... While before, he coud have just smacked someone or shouted back. He couldn't help but feel disgusted by this. Though this would at least help him survive for longer, it only increased his desire to tear this croc's face off.

Greenhide smirked at his reluctant show of submission. "I see you are smarter than you look. I hope it stays that way." He pressed the tip of his nose against Skrawl's face, allowing the jellybean to feel his hot breath against his skin. "I would hate for something to happen to someone as pretty as you..."

Skrawl flinched at that comment. "I still look forward to the day that all your hide is ripped off your..."

Greenhide didn't allow Skrawl to finish. He merely laughed at him, making a few small comments about how 'pitiful' it was that Skrawl thought that he could scare him. Skrawl growled at this, but before he could even try to say something, Greenhide lifted him up even higher and threw him across the cell. Skrawl let out a scream as his body slammed against the cold, iron bars and slumped into the ground.

"Consider that a warning, Skrawl." Greenhide said as he took a few heavy steps towards Skrawl's fallen form. His smile was gone and his yellow eyes narrowed sternly at him. His tail moved from side to side behind him, the tip shaping like an S, like a snake ready to strike. "I trust that you weren't going to do anything else to...tempt me, am I right?"

Although his gut twisted in disgust, Skrawl grumbled as he lowered his head. "No..." It took a lot of will power for him to even say that.

The crocodile grinned broadly at this. "Good, good... Now why don't you get back to sleep? And tomorrow, I promise I will be a lot more...kind with you."

Skrawl wanted to throw up at this. He didn't dare speak a word, however. He picked himself off the ground, grunting at the pain that wracked through him. He glared at Greenhide for a couple of seconds before he headed back to his bunk bed. He went towards the bottom one and practically collapsed into it.

Though he would never admit it, a part of him wondered that him trying to collect the artifacts was what brought him down to this level. Of course, he did nearly win with them. But it just seemed like, ever since he had used that darn crown, things had ultimately gone downhill for him. After all, it was after the artifact incident that he had been arrested for the first time and now this...

He shook the thought out of his mind. It didn't really matter now if the artifacts did curse him or not. Besides, it was silly to think so. He needed to focus on figuring a way out of this place. He would think of something eventually. He always did.

Then everyone, especially Greenhide and Mint, would have hell to pay..

He would see to that.


	4. Foreboding

No one ever said that it was easy. So come out of the cold...

-The Art Of Breaking, Thousand Foot Krutch

sss

What was that saying? Something about how time slips away from you? Or was it about how, when enough time has passed, it's all muddled together, making it difficult to discern the exact amount of time that's passed? Or was it something similar to that?

Well regardless of the exact saying, Sandra sure was feeling its effects right about now. Without having access to even a clock and without there being a day and night cycle here, which was true throughout ChalkZone anyway, Sandra had no way of knowing what time it was or how how long it's been since she got here. She only knew that it had to be at least a year, but something told her that it's been longer than that.

She had her guesses, but she could not be entirely sure if she was correct or not. There was also the fact that her internal zoner clock was disrupted since she got here. All zoners were created in the innate sense of time. It wasn't always perfect, but without a way to visually see time pass, many zoners have this 'time instinct' of sorts that let them know roughly how much time passed and what time it was. To an extent.

But not with her. No, she had lost this ability when she arrived here, and she could only make guesses. It was quite irritating, and she could feel her hands forming into fists. She never thought that not knowing the time or the day would bother her. But here she was.

Turning her head, she stared over at where one of the large rocks laid. One of her favorite rocks as it was shaped like a large claw. There was just something so appealing about the shape. And there, on the side, she could see some faint marks. She narrowed her eyes at them. She had attempted to keep track of time, but after a while, she just...stopped. How could she concentrate on counting the seconds all the time? It just could not be done.

She swished her tail rigidly from side to side. She ignored the way that her tail spikes were hidding the other nearby wall behind her. If anything, the scraping was almost inviting. It reminded her of how she had fought against those rotten children and their little blue friend. How she had scraped the walls to fighten him. How she had latched onto him and started to tear him apart, push him against the wall...

A small smile tugged in the corner of her mouth. She could feel her mouth water a little as she remembered Snap's flavor. She remembered how sweet it was. Almost like honey and ham...and yet still being distinct somehow. The boy's meat was quite chewy, too, and yet still easy to tear apart. It was difficult to describe. Oh just thinking about it was making her hungry.

It was then that she was struck with reality. Her red eyes widened as she recognized a sensation crawling up inside of her. She couldn't make it stop, no matter how hard she tried. And slowly, she narrowed her eyes and growled softly.

Today was the anniversary of her arrest, wasn't it...?

No wonder she had been in a more sour mood today than normal. Not that it was easy living here; anyone who set foot in this place would know that this was a wretched, horrible world to be in, and that every day was a struggle just to maintain a little sanity.

But on days like today, she felt more on edge. She could feel her body shaking anticipation. She could feel her mind swimming. She could feel her jaws tightening and teeth clenching. The talons on her feet quaked, the sharp tips wanting to pierce something. Anything. She constantly shifted her eyes around, trying her damnest to find something that she could attack. But with nothing but rock here, she had nothing to release her frustrations on.

Well...nothing...except for herself...

Sandra looked down at her right leg. She made a small grimace as she saw a few pinkish scars that decorated it. Her left leg was more or less the same, if not a tad worse. She often felt at unease when she saw them. A part of her felt a little guilty for doing this to herself. But that guilt was very short-lived. With newfound anger invading her body once more, she lifted her leg, flexed her talons, and struck down.

A flash of pain radiated from her body as her claws pierced the skin in her thighs. She ignored it. She did not stop until her claws dragged all the way down, leaving behind four trails of dripping blood on her inner thigh. The pain burned throughout her leg as though it was set on fire. A bit of tears formed in her eyes. But she did not scream. She never screamed.

Sandra pressed her back against the rock and slid down. She looked down at her leg and examined it, her hand resting on top of her thigh. She looked at how the crimson fluid kept draining out of her leg, staining the ground. She pressed her finger against her wound. She flinched a little, then dragged her finger along the wound, ignoring the stinging pain. She brought her hand to herself and she examined the tip of her dark blue finger. Her pupils focused intently on her own blood.

Oh how she wished it was Snap's blood. Or the blood of anyone else but her. She didn't deserve this. They had gone way too far with their punishment for her. They had gone overboard. It was funny, really. In trying to squash a 'monster', they had become monsters themselves. Bigger ones that she ever could have been.

Not that she even was a monster to begin with. No, she was only a 'monster' in their eyes because they refused to see the truth. They were too blinded by their own greed and selfishness. The truth often hurt and she had been a little aware that they might be slightly resistant, even if she didn't admit it to herself at the time. Still... for all of them to be so closed minded..and for them to overreact by putting her in this place... A part of her wondered why she even bothered with that place at all.

If only she had known that place was filled to the brim with...with sinners, she would have hightailed it out of there before those corrupted fiends could get to her. She would have found a safe refuge, and keep searching for a place that hadn't yet been corrupted.

Yet she had to wonder if there was indeed such a place at all. It was starting to look like not the case. After all, the first two places she had stayed out both turned out to be horrible. Who is to say that any other place would be different? They did say that the world was filled with terrible people. And it was certainly starting to look like that was the case. This whole place was filled with corruption...and she was one of the few left who was still pure.

She couldn't help but grimace as she recalled how they treated her upon finding out what she did. She couldn't believe how far they had gone. How insulting they had been...rejecting the sanctity of the promise as well as daring to criticize her noble efforts in keeping people together. The consumption of a friend was a great deal of honor...and these wretched welps dared to say something against it...?

Instead of listening to her side of the story, they only listened to one and completely ignored hers. They didn't try to listen. She knew they did not bother to make the attempt. For if they had, they would have seen the logic that she was pointing out and they would have sided with her. But no...they only wanted to listen to Snap's point of view...

Sandra gritted her teeth and let out a low growl. Here she was, locked away in this place, unable to do anything to get out... while Snap was running around scott free. It should have been him to get locked up, not her. Snap was the real monster here. Him and Rudy...

More blood heated up inside of her when she recalled how the zoners reacted to what was done to Rudy. She would have thought they'd be happy that she got rid of a promise breaker. She thought that they would have been grateful for the aid, knowing that an unholy demon had been taken out of their lives. Instead, they actually showed concern for the little fiend and were spiteful towards her as a result. Oh just how backwards were those fools...?

For a while, Sandra had lived with the comfort of knowing that Rudy couldn't have possibly have survived. Even if he was alive for a short time, he would have surely passed on, right? His neck was quite shattered from the last that she could remember.

But that was all shattered when she recalled what her caretakers had said one time when they were feeding her. She would never forget it.

"It is a shame about Rudy, right? Having his neck broken..."

"Yeah, poor kid. I know he can still get around but...man..."

After that, Sandra had just shut down her mind in anger and run off. She didn't care if she confused her caretakers; not like they bothered staying long anyway. She had grown used to her only company being her own thoughts, and of course the environment all around her.

And yet, despite being alone, she still felt...watched. She wanted some place more isolated where she could think. And she easily found it by going underground. There was a small network of caves beneath her. None that helped her escape, but they did give her something to do while she was here. And it was within those stone walls that she allowed her mind to realize the full impact of what she had heard.

Rudy Tabootie was...alive.

She snarled at this realization. She had no idea how it was possible. First, Snap betrayed her, turned against her, turned everyone against her, and no one bats an eye on it. Now the one person who was worse than Snap, the one who couldn't be trusted, had somehow survived and was permitted to live. No doubt he still visited ChalkZone, and she was certain that none of these wretched zoners did anything about it.

And here she was, trapped in her dimensional cell, unable to do a fucking thing about it. It was so irritating. It was so frustrating, burning up inside of her. No matter how hard she tried to think, there was no light at the end of this tunnel. The zoners were doomed to further corruption and she couldn't get out of here to stop it in time.

For a few moments, she felt something strange enter her mind. It was something that she had felt so rarely, and whenever she did, it was...difficult for her to describe, even to herself. She curled her fingers back into a small fist before flexing them out again and staring at her palm. Her teeth clenched tightly as she struggled to fight against the headache that was forming inside her skull.

Despite her thoughts and feelings, there was still a part of her that felt...afraid. Perhaps not for anyone specifically in ChalkZone City. But for anyone who hadn't been corrupted yet. She knew that some of those existed. She knew that there were refugees like herself hiding in this corrupted world. She wished she could try to save them. If only she could figure out where they were...if only she could figure out how to get out of this place..

But what was she going to do? She had already attempted before. Not that she'd give up so easily. But..it was getting to the point where she had no idea what she could do. With those bars in the way, blocking her path, there was no way she could get into the tunnel until her caretakers are here. And her caretakers never left the tunnel for long, and there was always two of them.

So clever... Using two caretakers to ensure that she could not try to get in. Even with one out, the other inside the tunnel would block her path, and she would have no way past them. They always wore protection and had some form of defense among them to stop her if she did try something. The most she could do was scare or confuse them. But that didn't mean that...

Wait a minute...

Was there something that she was missing...?

Sandra stared back at the rock tunnel once more. Her eyes moved over it, combing every detail. Her mind went abuzz with thoughts, as though this was the first time she was even seeing this tunnel. And slowly, something bulged in the back of her mind.

How could she have been so stupid? The answer had been right here before her eyes. Plain as day... And now that she was seeing it, a plan started to build up rapidly inside her brain. She couldn't help but spread her mouth into a toothy grin.

She hoped that Rudy and Snap were ready. Because ready or not, she was going to come find them.

sss

"I'm still not so sure about this, Rudy..." Penny rubbed the back of her head as she stared down at the plans that Rudy had given her. "I think this could create more problems than it solves."

Rudy frowned at this. He motioned towards Penny with one hand. "Well what do you expect? At least this way, we can get faster results. And if we mass produced this, it could stop major issues from cropping up before they even start. If the zoners knew what was in the food they were eating..."

"Then it could drive restaurants out of business." Penny said, narrowing her eyes. Rudy simply stared at her. "Don't look at me that way, Rudy. You and I both know that if the zoners gained access to all the ingredients, then anything the restaurant owners made could be replicated at home...and then what?" She raised her arms up into the air. "You don't want them coming after us, do you?"

Rudy opened his mouth to reply. Before he could, something large and soft pushed against him. Rudy turned his head and he gave a smile when he saw that it was just Ripclaw. Her wet tongue moved along his head, searching for nonexistant parasites. The feeling was quite ticklish, but in some ways, it did feel sort of good.

After pushing Ripclaw's head away and watching as the large, feathered raptor walked off, now turning her attention towards Mint, Rudy shifted his head back towards Penny. His eyes became narrowed once more as he started to think about what she had brought up.

Hmm...perhaps she did have some kind of point. Creating this portable analyzer might solve some problems. But it would also bring in brand new ones. The last thing he wanted was for them all to land in hot water with restaurant owners. He didn't want to imagine what they would do to them if this invention was used to steal recipes.

And yet...they couldn't just leave it at this. They had to do...something about the present situation. They couldn't simply leave it as it was, could they? If they allowed this to continue, they would constantly be interfered by these zoners, constantly going around in circles, constantly being subjected to the same results over and over again. He wanted something to change about this. He wanted there to be a way to simplify the process. Something that would take the burden off them and give the zoners quicker results. It seemed as though they were getting more and more impatient.

Unfortunately however, the only thing he could think of was this analyzer. He had thought it was a great idea at the time. It seemed perfect and would have solved all their problems. But until Penny had pointed it out, he had failed to consider how restaurant owners would feel about this. Feeling a sesnse of defeat clutching at his chest, he inhaled deeply and sighed.

"Well..." Rudy placed his chalk-drawn marker on the table, pushing it towards Penny. "What would you have me do?"

Penny was at a loss for words. It was as though she didn't expect him to agree with her so fast. Or was it because of the tension? "Well, I..."

"Get off of me, Ripclaw!"

Rudy and the others watched as Mint struggled to push Ripclaw off of him. The massive raptor had pushed her body against him and had him nearly pinned down. Her muzzle was pushed against his soft, brown hair, and it looked as if she were grooming him. Rudy couldn't help but smirk a little at this. Of course... If Ripclaw couldn't have Rudy or Penny, then she would have Mint instead.

Mint struggled to get up, pressing his arm against the front of Ripclaw's neck and chest. At first, it looked as if he was making a little bit of progress, but this only lasted a couple of seconds before the weight of the green raptor knocked him back down again. He let out a grunt as Ripclaw settled down against him, using her weight to hold him down so she could continue combing through his hair with her teeth.

Snap giggled at this. "Having a little bit of trouble there?"

Mint shot him a glare. "Oh be quiet and help me!"

Snap folded his arms against his chest. "Oh I don't know..." He raised his hand up in gesture. His smile broadened. "She's gotta eat too, you know..."

"Snap!"

Rudy shook his head at this. Sometimes it was a little annoying the way Mint and Snap bickered off each other. They seemed to be doing that more now than ever. But he couldn't really complain too much; it never got that serious and it was more playful than anything. He would much rather have this than how Mint used to be, trying to shoot Snap with a laser gun... He shuddered at that memory.

Rudy made a mental note in the back of his head to try to get Mint home quicker this time. He recalled how their antics the other day, in trying to figure out the contents of Haney's secret sauce, had led Mint to being late meeting up with his father. He did not want that to happen again. Especially not with how Mint had returned the next day, a little shaken from his dad scolding him.

Briefly, the teenager felt a pang in his chest. The fear of Mint's father discovering ChalkZone was getting closer and closer to becoming a reality. That man was getting a little too nosy and he had been growing increasingly suspicious. This issue died down momentarily five years ago, but lately it's been growing, getting stronger, and he had no idea how long this could be kept up before...

He tried not to allow that fear to overrun him, however. So far, at least Mr. Zandophen was unaware of what was going on. So long as he did not snoop any further and Mint remained cautious, they should have no problem with preventing that man from finding out.

But what if he did find out? What would they do then? How would they handle it? What would Mr. Zandophen say? Would he be accepting or would he try to do something about this world? Considering that Mint lost his leg in ChalkZone...

"Thanks for nothing, Snap!" Mint grumbled. Rudy snapped out of his thoughts and watched as his slightly older friend managed to push Ripclaw off without Snap's assistance. The blue and white zoner was still grinning at him playfully. "That would have went a lot smoother if you just helped!"

"Well it turns out you didn't need it." Snap shrugged his shoulders. "You just needed to put a little...muscle into it."

Mint glared at him, but he didn't bother trying to argue right back. He just smiled a little, giving a soft chuckle. "Well at least that's over..." He eyed Ripclaw critically. "For now..." Ripclaw cringed away from him, turning her head away as though she realized she did something wrong. Mint's expression lightened up a little before he turned to Penny. "I have to agree with, Rudy, though. Something has to be done about this."

Snap, forgetting all about what happened between him and Mint, nodded in agreement. His smile quickly faded as he turned to his friend. "We can't just keep pandering to these zoners. If we allow them to keep turning to us every time they have a suspicion..."

Penny gave a sigh. "I know we have to do something. But..." She rested her elbows against the table, using her fingers to rub her head. "We can't turn our backs on them, either. We're the only ones who can stop those zoners from doing anything drastic, remember?"

Rudy shuddered at this. He remembered all too well the last time that he and his friends could not interfere in time. The zoners had went after another restaurant owner and accused her of using zoner meat, like they had with others. And since he and his friends were not around, other than Snap, there was little that could be done to quell them.

Oh Snap tried..oh how he tried... But it was not enough. Snap could not provide proof of the zoner's innocense, and she ended up being chased. If he and his friends hadn't shown up later when they did, that poor zoner would have been beaten up by the crowd. Rudy hated to imagine what would have happened if they were just a few minutes late...

"Besides, there is a problem that we need to address with this." Penny spoke up. She stared over at the paper, her eyes narrowing slowly. "How are we going to tailor this thing to detect the vast variety of sentient zoner DNA?"

Rudy stared at his friend in confusion. "What do you mean, Penny..?"

"I mean.." Penny paused for a moment, her eyes shifting around as she tried to think of something. Snap and Mint looked at her in confusion, their eyes narrowed as well. "The only reason we are able to get positive results is because we take the time... I take the time..." She motioned to herself. "...to analyze the samples properly. But how do we condense that down to a little machine and have it do it faster? Rudy, sentient zoners are very varied, in all colors, shapes, and sizes. How do we account for all that?"

Mint's eyes widened and he gave a quiet gasp. "..and besides..." He looked over at Penny. "You were only testing to see if it was zoner DNA... You did not test it to see if it was sentient zoner DNA.." His voice trailed off as he lowered his head and stared at the ground, looking quite floored with this realization.

Rudy felt his heart skip a beat at this. "Th-That's right... We were only testing to see if any of these products had zoner DNA... So far all the restaurants we encountered had been using premade meat. Ones that were drawn and then erased. We hadn't tested anyone who has, like say, a farm or something..."

Penny raised her hand up in gesture. "That's right. And in case any of you have forgotton, sentient and non sentient zoner DNA aren't exactly all that different, if at all. I can't look at a slide of zoner flesh and say it's sentient." She straightened herself up. "..I would need access to the brain to do that..."

"And that...is not going to be easy..." Snap muttered. "And even if it were, I'm not sure how that would go over with the other zoners..."

Everyone remained silent at this. They looked at the ground and then at each other, occasionally shifting their views. They allowed this information to sink down into their minds, and they licked their lips nervously. None of them could deny the truth of that matter.

All this did was create more complications for them. At least as they were now, they could minimize most of the problems. But with memories like that one poor female restaurant owner hovering over their minds, they knew that something else had to be done eventually. There had to be an easier way to go about this. But as they all knew, getting access to zoner brains, while it would help them narrow things down, it would not go over well with most of the zoners. They needed something else...but what?

Rudy licked his lips slowly. He turned his head towards his cellphone, watching as the LED screen lit up in his face. He stared down at the time flashing on it. He gritted his teeth. Unfortunately, they wouldn't have time to continue speaking for long. If they didn't figure out something within the next half hour, they would have to delay this whole thing.

And he hoped it didn't have to resort to that.

Rudy looked over at Penny, noting how she was clearly trying to think hard, her fingernails digging into the sides of her face. Although he already knew the answer, he asked, "Did you think of anything yet?"

Penny groaned. "Not really." She hissed as she rubbed her temples. "I'm giving myself a headache..."

"You and me both." Snap grumbled. He sat down on the couch and leaned back against it. When Ripclaw came over towards him, he reached out and started to stroke her along the top of her head. "This is going to be one tough case to solve." Ripclaw made a low sound similar to a purr as Snap stroked her head. He looked over at Mint. "And what about you, Mint? Think of anything?"

Mint raised his hand and started to scratch his head a little. Well...not really, to be perfectly honest." He put his hands on his hips and took a moment to look at everyone in the room. He narrowed his eyes and clenched his teeth. "As much as I hate to say it... This may be something that we are going to have to put off for now. It may take a lot longer than we'd like for us to come up with a solution for this. In the mean time, if the zoners try to ask for our assistance again, we will just have to do what we have always done."

Not exactly the kind of answer they were hoping for. But they couldn't deny the truth of what Mint was saying. Especially not Rudy, who had realized this first. It would seem that they may have to delay this meeting after all. Spend some time alone in their own thoughts. Brain storm. Then come back tomorrow with a fresher mind and maybe they would have better luck that way.

In the end, Rudy hoped that this issue would be resolved soon. He hoped that they would be able to find a way to quicken this progress. He hoped that the zoners would eventually stop being so paranoid and learn to trust newcomers again.

Because at this rate, they are only going to tear themselves apart.

sss

Snap stood outside of Haney's Diner. He looked at the restaurant up and down, licking his lips nervously. Even though this looked nothing like Sandra's Alcove, there was still just...something about the atmosphere about this place that felt...wrong. And he wasn't even sure why.

Maybe it was only because this place was located right where Sandra's old restaurant used to be. Maybe it was because the restaurant owner was a dragon. Or maybe he was just being paranoid.

The blue superhero zoner gritted his teeth at this. He didn't want to come off as some kind of coward. He didn't want people thinking that he was chickening out or something. Not that anyone passing by, looking at him in confusion, said anything. Most of the zoners here, if not all of them, know what he had gone through. None of them would dare question why he was so nervous about entering here.

Though he wasn't entirely sure himself. After all, this was not the same place. Same location yes, but it was completely renovated. Torn down and rebuilt from scratch. There was hardly anything about this place that even looked like Sandra's Alcove. He had nothing to worry about.

And yet, as he took a few steps towards the door, he couldn't help but give pause. He could feel the back of his mind racing rapidly, and he couldn't stop his feet from shaking. Even just being this close to this location, regardless of the change of place, was enough to start sending his mind into spiraling flashbacks. He couldn't help but see Sandra's Alcove. He couldn't help but see Sandra at the register, getting her customers some food. He couldn't stop himself from seeing her smiling face turn towards him, only to flicker once in a while into that cruel, maniacal look she had given him right before she...

"Hey, what are you doing standing outside of my restaurant?"

Snap nearly jumped at that voice. He quickly turned his head and he could see Haney standing there. The tall, long, and thin dragon looked down at him, his arms crossed over one another. His dark green body shone brightly against the Day Zone sun rays, his tufted tail swishing out behind him. His piercing yellow eyes seemed to almost bore through him, and his long feelers waved about, twitching a little.

Snap wondered how long he had been standing there. He wondered if he had been disturbing anyone else. Had some of this guy's customers been watching him? He felt a pang of guilt and he took a small step back. Perhaps he should have come back later when he felt he was more ready and...

No, he couldn't leave yet. There had been a reason he had come here in the first place. He had been getting sick and tired of feeling so afraid of restaurants. He was getting sick of cancelling on his friends all because he was too afraid to step foot in a restaurant. He did have good reason for it. No one blamed him. But..how was he ever going to move on if he continued to allow himself to be controlled like this? He had to try to get over his fear.

And what better way than to start with Haney's Diner? The one restaurant that was located right where Sandra's Alcove once stood? Surely if he could get himself to eat here, he'd be able to eat anywhere. And besides, he knew exactly what this place looked like. He had been in here before. It wasn't like he was going to be surprised or anything.

Realizing that Haney had been tapping his foot, waiting a while for him to answer, Snap quickly cleared his throat and motioned his hand towards him. "My apologies. I didn't mean to..."

"Oh that's quite all right." Haney raised up a paw and waved it back and forth. "You were simply just curious." Haney's feelers seemed to move in conjunction with his words. Something hard to describe, yet...that's exactly what it looked like. "You are shy about coming in, no?" He motioned towards Snap and paused, waiting for him to reply.

Snap clenched his teeth briefly. He did feel bad about admitting it. But he'd feel worse if he lied about it, though. So, having no choice, he sucked in a deep breath and spoke, his voice softer than he had expected it to be. "...yes..."

Haney narrowed his eyes. "I see..." He turned his head away. "Not like you'd be the only one..."

Snap looked up at the tall dragon sympathetically. He did imagine that Haney did not have the most successful business right now. Sure, he might be getting a few customers. But this place wasn't so bustling like some of the regular stores were. He recalled that a few restaurants ended up shutting down entirely. The zoners just..did not want to take the chance with restaurants anymore. They were too afraid of what they might find out. Too afraid of possibly eating their loved ones again...

Snap hated to admit it, even to himself, but he still had some of that lingering fear. A part of him was always hesitant when it came to meat products. Heck, he had nearly gone vegan entirely after the incident with Sandra. That phase didn't last too long, but he had seriously considered keeping to it, for a time. He had heard stories of other zoners turning vegan as well, because they were unable to eat any meat without being reminded of Sandra. Such a depressing thing, to lose love of a group of food entirely due to the horrible acts of one zoner.

"Many people walk by my place and don't even bother to look." Haney sighed sadly, shaking his head. "Sometimes I wish I was created with another purpose...or at least at another time." He shut his eyes tightly, flinching as he couldn't help but recall the incident. "Maybe if I had been created six years ago... I would have at least had a mark here and I..."

Snap reached over and placed a comforting hand on his arm. Haney stared down at him, his mouth open but quiet. "It wouldn't have helped." Snap informed him sadly. "Even restaurant owners who had been here long enough were under scrutiny. Hell, even Chalk Dad had been questioned, of all zoners."

"Oh really now?" Haney raised an eyebrow. "I am quite surprised about that. He seemed like he would have been one of the lucky ones."

"Nope." Snap shook his head. "All restaurant owners were accused at some point, and any new ones are automatically confronted. It didn't matter what you did. Someone would have said something." He lowered his gaze. "That's just how things have been around here..."

"I see... Well that is a shame..." Haney said softly.

"Yes...it is..."

Snap still wished things didn't have to be this way. He wished that things could go back to the way they used to be. But he was not naive. He knew for a fact that, for this to happen, a miracle would need to take place. And he had a feeling that such a miracle wouldn't happen for a very, very long time, if at all. It was so...disappointing.

However, Snap didn't want to dwell on that sad fact for long. There would be plenty of time for him and his friends to discuss things further tomorrow. He wanted to try to lighten the mood a little. Give this guy something more worth talking about than some sad facts that neither of them could change for the time being.

"So...what kind of food to you sell here?" Snap asked, motioning his hand towards the dark green dragon. "Anything worthwhile?"

Haney's eyes twinkled at this. "I am surprised you're even asking. No one has ever bothered to ask before... Well almost no one anyway." Haney glanced over at his restaurant. His eyes furrowed with concern. "I haven't been getting too much business. Even after I was...allievated, or whatever term you'd like to use, most zoners still avoid this place."

"Gee...that's rough." Snap admitted. "But that's something to be expected. It still takes a while for the zoners around here to fully trust a new restaurant owner."

"Yeah..I know.." Haney lowered his ears in disappointment. For several seconds, his facial expression held nothing but sorrow. He shook his head once and managed to get most of that off his face, replacing it with the best smile that he could offer. "Would you like to come in and sit down?"

Snap nodded his head. "Sure. I'll be a customer for you, if that would help." He gave him the best smile that he could muster, trying his best to ignore the flashbacks everytime he remembered this was the same location as Sandra's Alcove, and how Haney was a dragon himself.

"Oh thank you! That would be most splendid!" Haney clapped his hands together. "Please, come on in!" He placed his hand against Snap and gently ushered him towards the door. "I promise, you won't regret it!"

Snap returned the smile the best that he could. He did not attempt to fight back, although there was a small, lingering fear rising up inside of him. He gave a small swallow and spoke lightly, "Yeah..I'm sure I won't..."

With that, the two headed towards the doors leading into the interior of the building. Snap could feel his heart start racing fastera s they got closer and closer to the doors. Soon Haney was close enough to push the doors open with his large, small-clawed paws. He continued to gently push Snap further into his restaurant, and soon Snap was completely inside. As he was moved towards one of the tables and given a menu, he had one thought going through his mind: He sure hope he didn't regret this.


	5. A Trail Of Blood

So you can try to tear me down, beat me to the ground. I will see you screaming!

-Thoughtless, Evanescence

sss

"Come on, get going!"

"Oh but do we have to? We already..."

"We're her current assigned caretakers! You'll just have to suck it up until they shift us around with someone else!"

"But still... you know what she's capable of..she..."

"She's wearing a fucking helmet! Now get a move on!"

Rondol grumbled to himself as he reluctantly continued down the hallway again. The same one that he had to travel through to get to Sandra's dimensional cell. Just like how he had before...

Not like he can do anything to get out of this, either. His king certainly would never permit it. He could feel his teeth gritting tightly at the memory. He wished that his king had been much more reasonable. Surely trying to steal his crown through force did not warrent this kind of harsh punishment.

Unwillingly, having no choice, he just continued down the hallway with his partner behind him. Any time he slowed down or showed reluctance, his partner would grab his shoulders and push him roughly. Rondol wanted to protest against Rum, but he dare not raise his voice. Rum was so much bigger than him. What would happen if he went a little too far and got on his bad side...?

The only reason Rum didn't attempt to hurt him half the time was because they were brothers. Just his luck. His big, tough brother being the one that he was partnered with. This was a fact that he tried to forget. He did not like to think that he was related to this guy.

Rum was capable of showing him some sympathy, so he supposed that made it a little better. After all, Rum did show him concern before after feeding Sandra. It was just a side that Rum rarely showed; he prefered being 'professional' about this whole thing.

And it truly did speak volumes about him if he was willing to help him after what he himself had tried to do...

He soon found himself in front of that blasted vortex again. He watched as it swirled around and around like before. It seemed to look almost...more foreboding than it had before. He gritted his teeth and was tempted to take a step back. He only stopped when he heard Rum's growling behind him, his body only about two feet behind him.

He could feel those eyes staring at him...waiting... He couldn't chicken out now. Not even if he really tried. Rum would never let him leave. And besides, his brother, his partner, he did have a good point.

Sandra did wear a helmet now. It was something that had been so common, so well accepted, that many would just...forget to bring it up. He wondered if even Sandra at times forgot that she wore it. This did not stop her from using her teeth or claws or spikes against them. She could still do harm and she was still rather insane. But at least it kept them safe from the one ability of hers that was most dangerous.

The ability to heal.

Okay, sure, many who had first heard of this being her power scoffed at it. Laughed and thought it was ridiculous. But Rondol was one of the few who took it seriously right from the get-go. He had seen that power used once. He knew how Sandra had twisted such a beneficial power to do something so...horrifying...

He struggled to clear his thoughts about that as he made his way towards the vortex. There was no point in keeping Sandra waiting. There was no point in trying to abandon this job, no matter how much he wanted to leave, no matter how terrified he was. He needed to get used to this; he was going to be stuck doing this for several weeks, take a break, and go right back to it. He might as well try to gain a spine, or whatever the term is, and get this over with.

Without further hesitation, taking in a deep breath, Rondol moved through the portal, ignoring the tingling sensation that it gave him as he passed through. He thought he heard his partner grunt a little as he tripped trying to get into the portal. But he wasn't sure, and he kept his focus on keep heading forward, fearful that if he stopped now, he would never be able to do this.

There was the rock tunnel again. He paused before he entered it, taking a moment to look around it, clenching his teeth tightly. His eyes zigzagged as he went over the details. It wasn't like anything changed, but in spite of trying to be brave before, being back in here caused some uncomfortable memories to rise up.

Sandra was silent now. But how long would that last? Would she try something now? Would she make another move to try to escape? Would she dive down at him and slice him with her claws if he attempted to get out of the rock tunnel?

"Don't tell me you're scared already." Rum muttered as he walked up from behind him. Rondol didn't bother looking up at him. He already knew the disappointed expression that his brother was giving him. "You hadn't even been here a minute and you already... Ugh.."

At this, Rondol did lift up the plate a little, gripping the edges tightly. "Don't worry, brother." He said with a slightly darkened voice. A meek attempt to sound brave. "I'm going to give her the food this time."

Rum 'hmphed' at this as he folded his arms. "We will see about that." He gave a quick, bitter chuckle. "I'll give you five minutes before you rush back to me like the baby that you are."

Rondol gave an immediate shudder at this. He could feel his body temperature rising. Baby, huh? Of course Rum would use that terminology. He often did that when he was daring him to do something he didn't think that he would do. It was the ultimate sign that he did not have any faith in him.

Well he was going to show him..

With his eyes narrowing in determination, his hands gripping the plate of food even tighter at this point, Rondol brushed forward away from his sneering brother and headed towards the bars. He was going to do it this time. He was going to do it...

sss

Sandra's ears twitched as he heard the sound of footsteps approaching. She struggled to keep herself from growling too loudly. She had to make sure she planned this carefully. Otherwise, she was going to screw everything up. She remembered what happened the last time she had tried to escape.

She was not going to make that mistake again.

She felt a sense of pride swell up inside of her, unable to stop the smile from spreading across her face. True, there was a little bit of embarrassment when she realized that she could have done this before. But oh well. At least she thought to do it this time around, and, hopefully, it was going to turn the tides in how successful this was going to be.

She still could not believe that she didn't think of this before, however. It seemed like something that would have been...rather obvious really. Why didn't she think to hide herself for when her caretakers came?

Well she sort of did. But not for this reason. Before, she'd hide so she could attack them, but that was only during a short period of time. She had killed a few caretakers, which caused the security to her dimensional cell to increase. It had gotten harder to attack, especially after this rock tunnel was built, and the beams of light that kept her away from it. She had stopped trying to seriously attack altogether, though she could still amuse herself once in a while with her scraping and roaring.

This time, she had a much bigger plan. And if she did everything correctly, it should work out for her. She just had to make sure she did not move at all here. No sound. No nothing. She could not allow her caretakers to realize that she was laying on top of the rock tunnel.

It hadn't dawned on her until a short while ago. Perhaps hours? Days? It was hard to tell anymore, with how her 'time instinct' thing being skewered like that. But when she had taken a good look at this formation, she couldn't help but notice how there were some rocks growing a little high from it and how, from where her caretakers would be, it was pretty hard, if not impossible, to see back here.

It made for the perfect ambush point...

She grinned maniacally at this realization. She looked forward to this. It had been a long time since she got her talons and teeth in something...fresher. She licked her lips slowly, anticipating the blood of her would be victim. She could feel the excitement of the hunt racing through her body, her tail jittering around, anticipating a chance to strike at something.

But she had to be careful. She would only get one shot at this. She had to stay here and wait until her caretakers got out. They often only set the food out and left after they spotted her. A defense mechanism for when she had ambused that one caretaker years ago. Once they saw that she wasn't anywhere in sight, they would move in deeper and try to figure out if they could locate her. Get a visual, whatever.

And that was when she was going to make her move.

She pressed her stomach and chest against the rocky surface. It was rather uncomfortable up here. The rocks were not smooth here, and some edges were pretty sharp. She had to stifle a few hisses and grunts to avoid letting herselff become known. She could not allow her caretakers to hear her through the rock walls. And keeping her feet still was even harder. Her feet twitched and she nearly scraped the wall a few times. No, not now.

She could hear footsteps from underneath her. She could hear what sounded like low whimpering. She couldn't help but smile as she recognized the voice of this particular caretaker.

Why if it isn't little Rondol... She had made a mental note to remember the names of her caretakers. She often saw them more than once, even with the cycling of caretakers. And Rondol was one of her personal favorites, despite not seeing him too often as he was quite new. He was always such a paranoid little zoner. Overly cautious even knowing she had a helmet blocking her powers on. She looked forward to giving him a real reason to be scared of her.

But this also meant that this mission could be a little harder. Due to his timid nature, Rondol might not even try to leave the rock tunnel. She frowned at this. This could put a damper in her plans. If Rondol escapes through that door, he could warn the others, and then she would really be in trouble. She needed a way to ensure that he did not flee. But what?

"Are you going to go through there or not?!"

"Y-Yes..."

"Open the damn bars!"

Sandra had a twinkle in her eyes. Did she hear right? Her ears twitched a little, trying to figure out if she had been mistaken. But that did not seem to be the case. Looks like little Rondol had finally grown a little bit of balls and was actually going to come out of the rock tunnel. Perfect. So long as he stayed out of the rock tunnel, her plan could unfold. And his nervous nature may prompt the other one, whom she was certain was Rum, to come out, she could make her next move. She just had to be very quick about it.

She waited and listened for the laser bars to be vanquished. She raised her ears up, struggling to hear what was going on down there. She could hear some more grumbles from Rum, some 'pretending to be brave' statements from Rondol. She could hear him getting ever closer to where the lever was. Shuffling, groaning, whatever else. And all the while, she could hear something twitching inside of her, growing impatient as she waited for Rondol to make his move.

Then there it was. A clicking sound. The sound of bars disappearing, accompanied by a loud 'pleep' sound. The sound of the pathway opening up, ready for her to take it. Ultimately, it was the sound of her freedom in the making.

She nearly lunged forward too quickly. Thankfully she caught herself. Only Rondol was coming through; if she made her move when only one of them was out here, she would screw everything up. No, she had to plan this perfectly. She needed both of them out here before she could make any sort of move against them. If she waited until they were both out and then she blocked the path, she could theoretically attack them before they had a chance to defend themselves.

At least, she hoped she would. She would still need to account for their weapons. But no matter. Her sudden appearance would startle them enough that they wouldn't think to use their guns right away. That was the opening that she needed to get to them. Regardless of her prey wearing those darn protective suits, she would succeed in her plan. She would take care of them. She would get out.

She just...had to.

Those suits could only do so much. All she had to do was find the weak spots, make her move, and that was it. But first, she needed to wait until she could even start doing anything. So for now, she had to be patient. Which isn't too hard. After all, if she could wait years to escape, she could wait a short time for this, right?

sss

The lack of sound was quite unnerving to Rondol. He wasn't even sure why. Shouldn't he feel some level of relief about this? He recalled how terrifying last time was, with Sandra scraping along the walls, driving him insane. Yes, this shold be so much better.

So...why wasn't it? Why was he still feeling fear? Heck, why was he feeling even more afraid than before? Why did it feel as though the atmosphere all around him had just gotten darker? There hadn't been any cause for alarm so far. No sign of Sandra above him, wanting to terrorize him. And she was nowhere near the front of the rock tunnel. She was not out there, it didn't seem. At least not close enough to get him.

So why was he scared? Was he really as much of a chicken as his brother thinks he is? He narrowed his eyes at this and shook his head. No, he was not a chicken. He would get through this. He would not allow Sandra to keep scaring him like this. Sure she's powerful and scary, but so long as he made this quick and got away, she could not hurt him. So long as the bars activated, so long as this tunnel stood, she was utterly helpless to do anything to him.

"Well? What are you waiting for?" Rem spoke up from behind him. Rondol turned his head and looked over his shoulder. Rem was motioning his hand towards him, trying to usher him to go forward. "Go on! Drop off the food and come back!"

Rondol licked his lips nervously. He knew that his brother was right. He could not hold this off any longer. He had the bars down. He had to get over there and drop this off before Sandra took notice and tried to escape. So, gripping the plate tightly and licking his lips nervously, Rondol proceeded out into the open. Outside the safety of the tunnel.

It was a heart pounding experience. Each step felt like he was moving through something thick and heavy. He had to struggle to move, using more strength in his legs than he ever did before. He couldn't believe just how stiff they had gotten, and all because he was coming into this cell, of all cells. He paused for a moment before working up the courage. He could do this, he told himself. He could do this...

After taking a couple steps in, Rondol stopped, his feet planting themselves against the ground. He struggled to keep his head level, not wanting to appear weak or frightened in front of Sandra. He wasn't sure if the rumors were true and she could smell fear. But he did not want to give her the chance to.

As he stood there, he took the few moments of tranquil silence to look around. This place was..deceptively pretty. Not lively by any means, but still pretty. There was some kind of beauty in this barren land, rocks getting out everywhere. Was it the lighting? Was it the black and purple sky contrasting the ground, with its many stars? Whatever it was, he couldn't deny that this place did look beautiful.

Yet looks were decieving. He had to remind himself that this place was a prison. It didn't look this way just to be pretty; this was a deliberate choice to add to the feel of isolation. As that's what this place was meant to be. An isolation cell reserved for only the worst among them.

He was glad that he was not deemed as low as Sandra. She was truly deserving of this punishment.

He forced himself to take a few more steps out. This time, he managed not to stop, even though he almost did a few times. He fought against the stiffness of his legs and kept walking out, heading towards the rock circle that was positioned a few feet away from the rock entrance. It was not that far, although his slow walking made it seem like it was taking longer than it should. All he had to do was put the tray of meat down there and then he could leave.

Soon he stood in front of the rock circle. Realizing that he made it, he paused and took in several deep breaths. He looked over his shoulder and saw his partner waiting for him, arms folded, eyes narrowed. He noticed a flash of concern in those eyes. This caused Rondol to gulp as he turned back to his duties. He lowered himself down and placed the tray against the ground, ignoring the loud clang.

He took a step back. He did it. He finally went through with it. He felt a sensation swelling up inside his chest. Accomplishment? Pride? Happiness? He couldn't pinpoint the exact feeling. But he really did enjoy it and it caused him to smile. He had faced his fears and carried out this job. And this time, without Rum having to interfere. Truly this was a...

Wait a minute. Something wasn't right here. Something was quite off. The humanoid zoner pulled his hands and arms to himself as if recoiling from something disgusting and looked around, his eyes shifting around.

It was too quiet... Way too quiet... He heard no growling. No footsteps. No snapping jaws. No nothing. It was as if Sandra was not here. He recalled that they were to ensure that she stayed within their sights in some way so they know she can't get out. But here, he saw nothing. No matter which way he turned his head, he couldn't see her. It was almost as if she wasn't there. But if she wasn't moving about around here then..just where was she...?

Licking his lips nervously, he turned his head and looked at where his brother stood. He could see that Rum had moved closer to the front, as though he sensed something was troubling him. Though he knew that Rum worried for him, he would not allow those feelings to come to surface. Instead of a worried look, he was met with a glare. Typical Rum.

Rondol paused for a moment, feeling a sene of guilt wash through him. He hated having to turn to his brother like this. He hated not being able to do something that he should on his own. He hated running back to his brother with his metaphorical tail between his legs. But here he was. Before he could stop himself, he called out, "Hey..can you...?"

Rum immmediately rolled his eyes at this. There was something of a small scoff, most likely of disappiontment. But Rum didn't attempt to rub salt in the wound, so to speak. He merely nodded his head once and said, "Okay, I'll be right out."

Rondol gave a very small, tiny smile at this. He didn't allow his brother to see it. He did not want him thinking that he was breaking down already. He didn't want him thinking that he was going to conform to this. He just wanted his brother to come over so they could figure out something about Sandra before it was too late.

He bit his lip as he looked around once more. Just where was that fucking dragon..? She could not have just disappeared...right?

sss

Rum couldn't believe it. He knew his brother could be a scaredy cat sometimes. He had hoped that he would grow out of it and become more assertive. In fact, it was his cowardice that got him in trouble with the king. His desire for the crown amounted to him just being afraid. That was it. Of course, he'd never admit it. But he wasn't fooling him one bit.

Well it wasn't like he could do anything to make him see just how weak he was being. Besides, he was still his brother. He shouldn't be too condenscending of him. He had been doing his best to try to help him as no one else would. And if his brother needed help right now, who was he to turn his back on him?

He felt somewhat guilty with what he said before. He hadn't really meant the words that he said. He was just...easily flustered by his brother's 'tail between the legs' ways. He wanted him to grow a spine once in a while.

He had to admit though. His brother going all the way out there on his own, with the tray of food, to feed the notorious Sandra... That was something he didn't expect. And he had to applaud him for it. Inwardly of course. He didn't want Rondol to see him show too much approval of him; he wanted to keep inspiring him to strive to be stronger.

His thoughts turned back to the situation before him. He started to wonder just why Rondol would call him out there. It wasn't like there was anything really going on. This wasn't such a complicated task. All he really had to do was set the tray down and leave. That was it. Why wasn't he just walking away now? Why was he looking so nervous? He did not want ot think that Rondol was this much of a coward, this much on edge. He wanted to think there was something else going on. But...he just could not think of what that was yet.

He knew that leaving the tunnel entrance was a bad idea. There was good reason for why they went in pairs, and why one always stayed back. It was the only way to ensure that Sandra stood little chance of escaping. After all, she could disappear behind them when they were not looking.

But..he wouldn't be gone that long, anyway. It shouldn't be a problem. They were only a few feet in front of the entrance anyway. And he was sure that what his partner had to say wasn't going to take too long. He could simply just grab his arm and force him back as Rondol ranted on about...whatever the heck it was that bothered him.

Rum didn't bother wasting too much time. They were on a schedule anyway and there were plenty of other less dangerous criminals to feed. He didn't want their bosses to be angry at them. Especially not with Rondol. He knew his brother couldn't really handle being yelled at. Especially not after how the king went off on him. He would make sure that his brother stayed out of trouble. Though it is funny... He was the youngest, and yet it is his older brother who needed help. Ironic, wasn't it?

Soon, before he realized it, he was already about half way towards his brother. Now that he was closer, he could see that there was a worried expression in his eyes. This caused Rum to give pause and look around. Just what was his brother looking at? What had him at such unease? There was nothing around here that seemed to be a cause for alarm.

"What is wrong?" Rum said, using his signature tough voice with Rondol. "Why do you look so worried?"

"I...I..." Rondol swallowed hard. He was looking around, was if trying to find something. "Wh-Where's Sandra...?"

Rum blinked a few times, then narrowed his eyes. "Seriously? That is what your question is right now?" He slapped himself in the face, closing his eyes and shaking his head. "First you complain when she is there. Now you're complaining because she's not here? Dear brother, why don't you make up your mind?!"

Rondol took a step back at this, looking at him with wide eyes. Rum felt some level of guilt for this. He would have apologized, but he refrained from doing so. He merely glared at him, showing just how disappointed he was in him.

With another sigh, Rum continued, "Anyway, you don't have to be out here anymore. Come on. Let's get going." He reached his hand out towards him, motioning him to get closer. "We can go report to the boss and we can go on our meal break. Would that sound good to you?"

Rondol didn't seem to hear his question. That was strange. Normally he'd jump at that chance. Instead, he was simply looking around. His eyes almost never fell upon him; instead they would just be looking out elsewhere, his tongue moving along his lips in a nervous fashion. "D-Do you see Sandra...?"

Rum gave a small groan. "Will you stop worrying about her?!" He held his hands up in gesture. "She can't hurt you!" Well technically she could; just not in the same level as she could before. "Now come on, let's get going before..."

His brother suddenly pulled back away from him, his eyes bulging wide. His eyes were turned towards something behind them. Rum wasn't entirely sure why his brother was staring over there like this. It wasn't like there was anything over there that was particularly worrying. Yet there is brother stood, staring over as if some kind of demon had just raised its ugly head. Rum almost rolled his eyes until he realized something.

There was a bit of blue in his brother's eyes.

But...that could only mean that... Oh no... His eyes grew wide and his teeth clenched tightly as he whirled his head around to where his brother was looking. Instantly, he turned his body around and put his arms out in front of his brother protectively as he saw a set of talons coming straight towards him. He had no time to react before there was a flash of red and then horrible pain.

"Rum!" Rondol shouted in horror.

Rum couldn't reply to his brother. The only thing he could do was scream in pain as he was knocked into the ground with a heavy thud. He laid on his side for a few seconds, slowly turning onto his back. He held onto his face where Sandra had slashed him. Blood dripped rapidly through his fingers and down his face. He tried so hard not to scream. He tried so hard to be stronger for Rondol. But he just couldn't stop himself.

He managed to open up his good eye, albeit blurred with tears, and he looked up at Rondol. He could see the terror that shone in his eyes, his mouth open as though he were ready to scream. Rum attempted to smile at him, but the gash had slit part of his lips apart. His smile ended up freaking his brother out far more than it helped, and it caused him to flinch in pain. He looked back over and tried to find where Sandra was.

He could hear a screech and he lifted his head up to see the dastardly blue dragon circling overhead. She was a bit of a ways up. Realizing that it would take her a while to get back down, he grabbed onto his brother and attempted to rush back to the safety of the tunnel entrance. Oh why did he bother leaving it in the first place? He grumbled harshly to himself.

He didn't get too far when suddenly pain erupted on his back. He screamed loudly as he was knocked back into the ground. He could barely hear his brother's screams for him as he laid there. He could feel the pain echoing in his back, the hot blood seeping out of the deep gashes that now resided there. He pushed himself up on one hand, his body shaky, and looked up at at the black and purple sky, struggling to find where the fiend had gone this time.

Only to realize that she was gone from his sights. His heart began to pound as he scrambled up to his feet. Oh no..where did that monster go now? He looked this way and that, but so far he couldn't see her anywhere. It was almost as if she had vanished from the area. Could she have gone through the rock tunnel...?

His answer came fast when he heard his brother screaming in agony. With his heart freezing solid, he turned his head to see Sandra on top of his brother. Rondol was on the ground, squirming frantically as Sandra dug her claws into his side. Rum's wide eyes looked at the pool of blood that was forming and then back at Sandra. With his teeth clenched, he rushed over, shouting loudly at her and, in spite of his pain, swinging his wildly at her.

Sandra looked at him with gleaming red eyes, but nonetheless jumped off of Rondol. Rum gave her a glare before looking back at his brother. He hovered his hands shakingly over him for a few seconds before he placed them down upon him.

"I-It hurts... Please...do something.. It hurts..." Rondol whimpered as he clutched his one side. Tears of pain flowed down his face. "It hurts too much... I-I..."

Rum felt his heart twist. In the past, he would have still acted tough and hostile in hopes of inspiring his older brother. But this time, in this situation, he just couldn't bring himself to do that. Licking his lips slowly, he simply stroked his brother's hair and tried to soothe him. He didn't care how much it hurt to talk; he still felt compelled to do it. "Shh... It's going to be okay... I promise. Everything is going to be all right..."

"Oh how sickenly sweet."

Rum stiffened up at that voice. With his teeth bared, he turned his head and looked over his shoulder. His good eye stared over at Sandra, hatred and anger practically radiating from it. If only looks could kill...

Sandra was still up in the air, staying aloft with a few steady, slow flaps of her arms...wings...whatever they were. She glared down at them, a broad smile on her face, forming a rather evil grin. Her sharp teeth were exposed and glinting. In her eyes, he could detect something like a mixture of glee and contempt. It was hard to say which one was dominant...and which one he would prefer seeing.

"But I'm afraid that this little song and dance will have to be concluded. You see, I have somewhere else I have to be. And you two gents will only give me grief. So if you don't mind..."

"Go jump off a cliff!" Snarled Rum. At this point, he no longer cared about being careful around her. She had crossed the line when she hurt his brother. And now she was going to pay for that. "I'll rip out your tongue for this!"

"Rip out my tongue, you say?" Sandra tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. "Why, that does sound pretty original, doesn't it? But instead of my tongue.." She looked down at Rondol intently. "How about his? With all his high-pitched squealing, I bet he has quite the tongue, am I right?"

Rum growled underneath his breath. "If you do so much as lay a single claw on him, I'm going to..."

Sandra raised her hand up to silence him. "If you really do care for him like you seem ot, why don't you prove it?" Sandra lowered herself to the ground. Soon her feet and talons hit against the rocky surface. "Go on... I'll give you a sporting chance." She continued to give that creepy, wide grin. "Try to shoot me. Let's see if you can hit your mark."

Rum could feel his blood boil. It was clear that Sandra was just trying to provoke him. She was attempting...something. He couldn't really put his finger on it. But the fact that she was standing right in front of the tunnel entrance and was not even trying to go through it caused red flags to raise up inside of him. Something was not right here.

And yet he could feel his logical portion ebbing away inside of him. The sound of his brother's constant whimpering and crying caused his heart to turn to ice. It filled him with some kind of adrenaline, strong emotion that tore through his body, making him ready to leap at the chance to fight Sandra. Even when his logical side screamed at him that he needed to think things through, the reminder of what happened to his brother was enough to make him slowly rise above the ground and face Sandra.

So this bitch wanted him to show her what he was capable of? She wanted to give him a sporting chance? She was giving him a chance to get her? Well then, if that is the way that she wanted to play, then so be it. He would be glad to blow her up after what she had done. Screw the orders. Screw the punishment details. The only thing that mattered was making Sandra pay for what she did to Rondol.

He reached into his pocket as he remembered he had a weapon with him. He pulled it out slowly, the long muzzle rising up from the pocket and soon being exposed to the air completely. He moved the tip of it towards the evil dragon, aiming it directly at her neck. He put his finger on the trigger and, without hesitation, he pulled.

There was a loud crackling sound as the tip of his gun glowed briefly. The light ball swelled up, and soon sparkled and snapped in all directions. A jagged bolt shot out, aiming directly at Sandra. Soon it would strike her neck and slice it clean off. It was only a matter of...

Without warning, there was a loud clang. It echoed through the air, nearly causing his eardrums to pop. He clutched his ears tightly, dropping the gun. He lowered his head down, struggling to fight against the sound. His knees pressed further against the dirt below him, and he could feel the jagged pebbles pressing up against his skin. It took several seconds for him to be able to lift his head up to see what happened. His eyes bulged in horror at what he saw.

Oh no... Oh gawd no... Please...this couldn't be happening.. This...This had to be some kind of mistake... H-He couldn't have...

Yet there was no denying what laid before him. There was no way that he could deny that there was something laying on the ground no. Something that shouldn't be there. Something that was never supposed to be destroyed.

Sandra's helmet.

This realization caused several thoughts to swirl through his head. He could feel his heart racing faster. He could feel his breath quickening, becoming rather difficult to stop. He found it difficult to look away from the helmet, his eyes glued to it. He could see the large dent mark with a circle of darkness all around it indicating where the strike was. He could see the crack that moved along behind it. He could see where some parts had melted slightly from the heat of the bolt. This helmet had been rendered useless. And it was all because of him..

Rum only had time to look up at Sandra in horror before he suddenly felt something in his body become stuff. He arched his back and grunted as he struggled to deal with the pain. There was a sharpness in both of his arms and he could feel something start to burst inside of him. He struggled not to scream. He tried so hard...

Then suddenly, with a sickening grunch and a loud squish sound, he could feel his arms burst open. A powerful, horrofic pain swept through his body. Despite knowing it was a bad idea he still found himself looking down at his arms.

The arms were utterly ruined. Flesh dripped off of them. His muscles looked partically liquidified and were ripped apart. Blood oozed rapidly down from his arms and to the ground. He could see his arm bones very clearly. Large chunks of skin dangled off or were on the ground, falling into the pile of flesh that had been ripped off.

The sight of this caused his eyes to bulge open wide. He struggled to speak, to say anything. The only thing he could do was just stumble and stammer, breathing quickly. His mind raced as it processed the horrific image before him. He thought for sure that his heart was about to jump out of his chest. He looked back at Sandra, his eyes filled with no more contempt or defiance. Just nothing but fear.

Oh why didn't he stay in the tunnel? Why didn't he insist on bringing the food out himself? Why didn't he...?

His thoughts were stopped abruptly when he felt something sharp in his neck, a sudden snap, and then all was quiet and dark.

sss

Sandra smirked darkly as she watched the youngest of her caretakers collapsed into the ground in a thud. His neck had been snapped internally. A very simple task. All she had to do was target one area and use her powers to cause a large enough growth there. It was mere child's play.

Sandra looked down at her hand and slowly curved her fingers inward. She could feel a familiar sensation rushing through her body. Oh how far too long it's been since she could feel this sensation... Oh too long it has been since she was last able to wield this wonderful gift that she had been blessed with...

But it was like riding a bicycle. She never forgot it. As soon as she had access to it again, it had all come so naturally for her. It had been a cinch to rip that guy's arms apart and just as easily to snap his neck. And now he laid upon the ground before her twitching as he went through his death throes. She smirked darkly at this, letting out a chuckle. Her ears then twitched when she heard whimpering. She shifted her gaze over to the other caretaker.

Rondol was staring over at the now dead Rum. He had pushed himself up on his elbows, his body trembling horribly, tears staining his cheeks. He was trying to speak. Only gibberish and broken sentences could come out. Most of them were something along the lines of 'no please, weak up' and 'brother, don't go'. All so amusing...

Then Rondol looked up at her. His eyes did not hold any hostility. Only fear, like he had always felt towards her. He let out low, constant whimpers as he struggled to say something to her. He licked his lips once, smacking his lips as he went. He managed to squeak out, "Wh-Why...?"

Sandra couldn't help but sneer at this. "You are so naive. Didn't anyone ever tell you that life isn't fair?"

At this, she began to recall what had happened with her. She narrowed her eyes deeply, shaking her fists at her side. It took a lot of will power to make herself stop. She managed to bring the smile back on her face, staring down at her confused and frightened victim.

"You know how long I've been here? Oh I'm sure you do." Sandra looked at her hand, flexing her fingers. "It's been years, that much I know..." She turned her head slightly so she could stare down at Rondol. "And all for what? For doing what was right?" She formed a sudden fist and growled before she managed to stop herself. She gave a few small chuckles. "Don't you just hate that? When you strive to do something good...and people still punish you for it...?"

Rondol didn't reply. He just trembled on the ground, sobbing in both fear and mourning the death of Rum. He was attempting to scoot away from her. It was quite an amusing sight. She would have given him a mock applause if she really wanted to. Instead, she just folded her arms against her chest and smirked down at him.

Oh there was so much she could do with him. So much she could pull off... So much that she could put him through...

But she realized, in the end, it was not really too necessary to get carried away. After all, watching his brother die before him was enough to send fear straight down into the very depths of his soul. She knew that he was such a little terrified zoner, and now she had proven it to him. She had given him one very good reason to be afraid of her.

And she knew that, for the rest of his life, he would never forget this moment.

Upon seeing his tears, she gave a dark chuckle. "Oh what's the matter? Why are you ruining your pretty little face?" She moved in closer. Rondol whimpered louder and tried to scoot away from her. She merely lowered herself down and started to stroke her finger underneath his eye, wiping away the tear. "You should be more careful."

At this, Rondol stammered, "P-P-Please don't h-h-hurt me..."

Sandra raised an eyebrow at this. "Hurt you? Oh dear me, no!" She turned herself away with a quick motion. "Why in the world would I do such a thing?" She stopped for a few moments, her back turned to him. She swished her tail from side to side. Then she turned her head and looked down at him. "Oh I know... How about show you something..spectacular instead?"

Rondol shook his head. "No..."

"Oh come on.. I'm sure you will enjoy it!" Sandra moved back over towards him. She looked down at him and began circling him like a hawk. "Truly someone of your... 'courage'...deserves to be rewarded. After all, not everyone can watch their sibling die and not die of a heart attack."

"Please..n-no..don't..."

Sandra ignored him as she went over to where the other one laid on the ground. At this point, Rum had gone completely still, the light fully gone from his remaining eye. She stood in front of him and stared down at his body. She only smiled for a couple of seconds before she suddenly drove her claws into his side. Ignoring Rondol's terrified screams of protest, she sliced off a large hunk of meat from him.

She looked over at Rondol and gave him a knowing smile. Rondol immediately paled, his face looking as if it were taking on a green coloration, and he shook his head rapidly, holding his stomach. He tried to get up to his feet. He only managed to stammer away a couple of inches before he pain brought him back into the ground. All the while, Sandra merely approached him slowly, meat in hand.

"Oh, no need to be so...hasty..." Sandra cooed as she held a chunk of Rum's flesh in her hand. "I'm sure you will quite like this... Now, just hold still..."

"No..please..I... hurggh!"

Sandra shoved the piece of meat into Rondols' mouth. She used one hand to hold his jaw down and the other to cover his mouth with. She held onto him tightly as he thrashed on the ground. He let out loud whimpers of distress and gagged sounds. He stared up at her in horror, silently pleading with her. She only smiled back at him, refusing to let go. "Oh come now... Don't you think it tastes good? He is your brother after all. Why don't you let him become a part of you?"

Rondol only squirmed and mumbled in protest. He tried to pull his head away from her. But each time, Sandra just adjusted herself so he had no chance of spitting out the meat. Rondol's cries and sobs grew louder and, eventually, he just couldn't handle it anymore. With reddened drool dripping out the sides of his mouth, he swallowed. Sandra released him and allowed Rondol to collapse to the floor, shivering in shock and horror at what he was forced to do.

Sandra folded her arms as she watched this scene go on before her. She listened to him sob heavily. She felt a sense of disgust crawling in the back of her mind. She had come to expect this kind of disrespectful response. Even if the loved one wa a sibling, they still had the gaul to react like this. Of course...

"Oh I know you are upset." Sandra faked concern as she moved around him slowly once more. "He was your brother, after all. It is never easy, is it?" She placed her tail around him, one arm slinging over his body. She pulled him into a partial hug. "At least he will be a part of you for as long as you live..."

She moved her hand along his cheek, gently stroking it. She then moved it down his neck and onto his chest. Even through this weak protective suit, she could feel his heart pounding inside of his chest. It felt like it was going to jump out at any moment.

"Poor little thing... You really are quite jumpy right now, aren't you?" Sandra said in a soft, gentle voice. "Oh dear, why don't I help you with that? I know how I can calm down your racing heart.."

Rondol shook his head, more tears flowing down his face. "No...please..." He choked out. His brother's blood dripped down from his mouth. "Don't..."

Rondol gave a sudden jerk as Sandra's powers immediately took hold of his heart. Sandra could see it in her mind's eye. Her powers swirled around his heart, getting a good grip on it. She tightened her hand a little, causing Rondol to grab onto his chest, as though that was going to stop her. Then she slowly gave a turn to one side.

As she did so, Rondol breathed in and out quickly, struggling to fight against the horrific pain. She smirked as she saw his legs kick out, his arms tightening and pressing against his chest. His body tossed and turned from side to side. His eyes shut tightly, his teeth clenching to the point of nearly breaking his teeth. Sandra could practically feel the heart getting larger with her powers, more and more blood flowing inside of it, becoming thicker and thicker, until...

She could hear something burst inside of Rondol's chest. She could feel it even through the ground. In an instant, Rondol's body stiffened, and then collapsed to the ground. The color rapidly faded from his face as his eyes remained open, staring ahead into nothingness. He, too, went through the throes of death.

Sandra felt some level of disappointment at this. She wished that she had taken more time with him. She wished that she had gone a little slower. She had a lot of pent up frustrations and she felt it would have been better if she spent just a little longer on him.

But oh well. There was more prey ahead of her from this point forward. These two were nothing more than practice swings. Now she was going up into the major leagues. And soon, she would be able to reunite with her...star attractions.

She lowered herself down to Rondol's still spasming form. She moved her hands long his body as she searched for the key that she knew she would need to get out of this place. As soon as she found it and yanked it out, she made her way towards the rock tunnel. She took in a deep breath and sighed loudly.

Freedom was at hand at last.


	6. Capture And Break Out

Seems this is the only way. I will soon be gone.

-Alone I Break, Korn

sss

It took only a couple of seconds of sitting down before a heavy, silver tray was placed before him. The loud clanging sound rung loudly in his ears, causing him to recoil and cover the sides of his face. He watched as the plate stopped flopping about and soon he could see what was below him: a bowl of gruel.

The sight of it was quite disgusting. It was enough to make even the strongest of criminals vomit. It was more cruel than almost anything that he could imagine in that moment. Even if he had succeeded in his plans, he never would have subjected anyone to eating this slop.

But he had no choice. This stuff, this drippy green stuff..it was all that he had available to eat here. He was not permitted any other kind of food. No ordering out. Nothing fancy. No nothing. It was as if the guards thought it was a waste of time and money to keep cooking different food for them, so they opted for this solution, which allowed them to quickly manufacture basic food for their prisoners to eat.

"Go on now. Eat up, jellybean!"

Skrawl grimaced as he heard Greenhide's taunting voice. He had been the one to give him the food, and now that crocodile was sitting down next to him. He could feel his body heat radiating from his body due to how close he was to him. Skrawl tried not to look at him, but he couldn't help but see the dark green body in the corner of his mismatched eyes.

At least Greenhide didn't attempt to bother him again on such short notice. That large, repulsive crocodile was too busy eating his own slop. Skrawl couldn't help but gag as he heard the slurping sounds the croc made. He knew that crocodiles were supposed to have powerful digestive systems, or was that alligators. Either way, this was way too much. Greenhide not only had no problem eating this stuff, but he obviously had too much fun eating it in front of people who were revulsed by it. It was almost like a game to him.

Skrawl struggled not to think about him, which was not an easy task to do considering that the guy was right freaking next to him. But he could at least try and focus on the meal before him. It was the most that he could do right now. At least this stuff gave him some energy back.

Skrawl reached down with a fork, staring intently at the gruel that he had been given. He licked his lips slowly and struggled to fight against his wanting to throw up. He was well aware that Greenhide would only make him eat his own vomit if he dared let it loose. Might as well suck it up the best that he could. With that in mind, he placed the fork against the gruel and lifted it up.

Doing so not only produced a stringly, almost wriggly strip of green, but also released a foul smell that had Skrawl coughing and gagging. He nearly dropped his fork and one hand latched against his throat. Oh what kind of cruel, sick joke was this?

Greenhide swallowed another bite before turning his massive head towards him. "Oh what's the matter, precious baby?" Skrawl glared at him, but said nothing. "Too grumpy to eat your meal? I could eat it for you then, if you are..."

"No!" Skrawl hissed as he pushed his plate of gruel away from Greenhide. The two of them glared at each other for several moments. Despite how foul it tasted, he was not going to allow Greenhide to take it. "Get more of your own if you like it so much!"

Greenhide raised an eyebrow at this, his yellow eyes staring intently down at Skrawl. For a few brief, yet somehow painfully long moments, Skrawl thought that he had screwed up yet again. This was the same look that Greenhide gave him a few times in the past when he had said something out of line. And all Skrawl could do was wait and watch until Greenhide said something; he was powerless to do anything to dissuade him.

To his surprise however, Greenhide didn't bare his teeth or raise his hand threateningly like he would in the past. Instead, the crocodilian zoner simply pulled his head back, pointing his long, toothy snout into the air, and started to laugh. Not a jovial one, mind you, but one that was a little more tainted than that. The sound of it made the jellybean's skin crawl.

"You really are something, aren't you, little Skrawly?" Greenhide's voice boomed. "I rather quite enjoy when you sometimes show a little spunk!" Skrawl growled softly in response. Greenhide eyed him with one eye. "Perhaps you are not as pathetic as you look..."

Skrawl felt his body quake at this comment. He could feel an energy rushing through his arms. He could feel his vision all around him start to blur. He wasn't really sure what was going on anymore. The only thing he became aware of was a yell and then an impact and a yelp. And something red flying through the air.

Skrawl shook his head and started to come back to his senses. When his vision blurred, he became aware of everyone around him staring at him in shock. Skrawl followed their eyes and tried to figure out just what they were looking at. His gaze slowly fell down upon the ground, and there before him he could see something there. Something small and ground and...

Oh gawd, was that Greenhide's eye...?

Skrawl could feel his blood freeze at this realization. He lifted his head up and he stared at where Greenhide was. The crocodile's body was hunched over at this point, his snout pointed towards the ground. His paw was placed against his now empty eye socket. Skrawl could see where the blood was dripping rapidly, pooling onto the ground below him as if it were a leaky faucet. It was only when the remaining green eye fell upon him, filled with rage, that Skrawl became aware of a new sensation. One that he hardly felt in this life.

Raw terror.

Skrawl didn't have time to even jump back before the shock collar placed around his neck did its work. Everything had happened so fast, it took a little longer before the shock collar realized what he did. And when it finally caught on, Skrawl's body was immobilized in shere agony. He pulled his head back and screamed as volts of electricity arced throughout his body.

Screaming in pain, Skrawl attempted to remove himself from the situation. The electricity volts never allowed him to go too far, however. He only managed a few steps before he found himself dropping to the ground. He banged his knees while his third limb held himself up. He struggled once more to get up, only for his body to continue shaking and trembling. Slowly, he looked up at where Greenhide was, unable to stop the fear from shining on his face.

Greenhide towered over him, glaring down with his remaining yellow eye. His teeth were gnashing together, a deep growl eminating from his mouth. Already his shock collar was sparking. But true to what everyone already knew about him, he hardly reacted to it. Instead, his attention was fully on Skrawl. Nothing else mattered. Not even pain itself would stop him from doing what he wanted to do. As soon as Skrawl saw that hand being raised up, he knew there was nothing anyone or anything could do to stop him.

Skrawl was not able to dodge the first attack. The claws raked against his side. The pale teal jellybean was knocked across the ground, rolling painfully and hitting against various garbage that was strewn about. He rammed against one of the chairs and clutched his side, shivering in pain. None of the other prisoners would help him. Not only did they not want to, they were too terrified of Greenhide anyway. Skrawl looked around, noting their curious and horrified stares, and then he tried to get back up.

He didn't get far before he felt something thick and heavy strike against him. As he tumbled through the air, he saw some flashes of green and something spikey and he realized that he had been hit by Greenhide's thick tail. He could already feel soreness spreading throughout his side where he was hit, forming a bruise that would remain with him for weeks, no doubt.

Skrawl slammed against the ground, his face smooshing against it. He thought he felt a few of his large teeth crack. This was confirmed when he lifted his head up and he saw a few of his teeth on the ground. He gave a quick shudder at the sight of teeth and blood on the ground before he looked over at Greenhide just in time to see the zoner on all fours and charging at him like some kind of wild animal. Skrawl attempted to get himself up off the ground before it was too late. He was instead met with long jaws packed with serrated teeth pressing down against his body.

Skrawl's screams echoed throughout the meal room. Other prisoners looked over, watching his predicament. Horror or curiosity, or even indifference, plagued their faces. No one showed any signs of wanting or desiring to help him, just like before. All the while, the sounds of electricity arched through his body, ripping through and only worsening the pain that Greenhide was causing him.

The jellybean kept his eyes shut tightly, seething through his clenched teeth. He struggled to keep himself from screaming, not wanting to give Greenhide any pleasure in hearing it. But the crocodile merely tightened his grip on him and Skrawl couldn't help but give out a small cry as the teeth sank further into his body.

He flailed about in the air, screaming and giving out a few sobs, despite his attempts to cover it up. He jerked around, slamming fists and kicks against the large crocodile zoner. Though he kept on hitting him, his claws and strikes and kicks did absolutely nothing. It had been lucky, or a curse, that he had even hit the creature's eye, the only part of him that was unarmored outside of his mouth. He was not going to have such an opportunity again.

The croc zoner shook Skrawl violently in his jaws, his teeth tearing and ripping through his body. The sounds of gasps and other sharp inhales of breath were barely heard by Skrawl as his head was wobbled about like this. His senses felt like they were going in an array, uncontrollable, and it soon felt as though there was a loud ringing taking over his skull. And still the croc kept on shaking, making the jellybean more and more disoriented.

Then, without warning, Greenhide released him. Skrawl let out a loud howl as he was thrown halfway across the meal room. He crashed into a few tables and knocked them over. He flinched and cried out as he felt his body break some plates, the sharp tips digging into his skin. He flipped around, somersaulted from the impact, and soon rested against another table, which rested on the ground thanks to him. Dizziness swelled in his head and he gripped his forehead, shaking it as he tried to regain his senses.

"I see you haven't yet learned your manners." Came Greenhide's dark, slightly gurgly voice. Skrawl looked towards the crocodile, having a hard time seeing him with one eye swollen and the other having some blood in it. "I suppose I still need to send you through an education class."

Despite not being able to see as well as he used to, Skrawl was still able to make out the dark green crocodile shape coming towards him. And he certainly could see the other prisoners moving back as the determined crocodile came towards him.

Skrawl attempted to get away from him. He could barely move his limbs at this point. Not that they were broken; but he was so shaky right now and felt so numb, even with the best of his will power, it was not enough to get him to move any part of his body. So he just laid there and watched helplessly as Greenhide came towards him.

This really was pathetic, wasn't it? Before, he would never allow this to happen. In the past, he would have beaten up anyone who dared to fight him. He would not show mercy and he would not give them a chance to get the better of him. And yet here he was on the ground, doing nothing to fight back as his opponent came towards him. Not even an insult would fly from his mouth. No defiance. He had been reduced to a lowly status. From master to slave. In that aspect, he had become a lot like Mint.

It really was quite funny...

"Well? Aren't you going to say anything for yourself? Or did you give up already?" Taunted the crocodile. Skrawl could see his smile spreading across his face. Even with blurred vision, he could tell it was filled with bitterness. "Well isn't that just a darn shame.. I would have liked to hear what kind of excuse you would have packed this time."

Skrawl could see Greenhide getting closer. The masshive shape casted a shadow over his body, making it a little harder to see as a result. He could feel that thing's breath against his face as the crocodile knelt down before him. He flinched as he felt those clawed hands gripping against his neck, refusing to let him go.

"I wasn't kidding before when I said you were pretty, you know." Greenhide's hiss danced through Skrawl's ears, making him shudder. "You would be a lovely catch...to anyone who cares to notice you. I would hate to ruin your...future date." He began to run his paw along Skrawl's face, tracing lightly over his bruised eye. "It seems I did damage the goods a little... But, it's not too bad... I'm sure in time, it will heal up just fine. Do not fret, little Skrawly..."

Skrawl hissed, "D-Don't...c-c-call me... Skrawly..."

Greenhide feigned a shocked gasp. "Oh! So you can still talk! Well isn't that just splendid!" The crocodile turned his head left and right, his remaining eye scanning the area. Then he looked down at Skrawl. "You know...maybe I haven't been too fair to you."

"What are you...?" Skrawl narrowed his eyes in confusion.

"Oh come now, pretty bean. Surely you want...take a crack at me. I know you're quite pent up... Go on...give it a try..."

Skrawl paled, realizing what Greenhide was talking about. "Y-You're kidding..."

Greenhide merely chuckled at this, his remaining eye twinkled. "What's wrong? I thought you would have wanted to prove to everyone that you're...not a whimp." Skrawl struggled not to vomit, the stigma of the image of what Greenhide had proposed still lingering on his mind. "Surely you would consider? Maybe you will even become more...dominant around here..." He made a motion with his clawed hand at this.

Skrawl felt sickened. He struggled up to his feet. He wobbled from side to side. He took in a few shaky breaths, his eyes staring at Greenhide. He let out a few low growls. "R-Regardless...of my previous plans..." He spoke in heavy puffs. "E-Even I..would n-never..." He swallowed hard as pain washed away that sentence. He sucked in a shaky breath and started a new one. "I would never s-stoop down to your level, you scaly lizard dung!"

Greenhide widened his eye at this. The prisoners around them fell silent, holding their breaths as though afraid that even the slightest breath would trigger something. Greenhide slowly made his way over towards Skrawl, putting his face close to him. With a loud snort, his eye starting to glow, he hissed, "...what did you say...?"

Skrawl sneered. "You heard me, punk!" Then he did something that he never thought he would do.

He spat in Greenhide's remaining eye.

Greenhide grabbed onto his face and took a step back. His head reared backwards and he let out a yelp and shook his head. He wiped frantically against his face, trying to get Skrawl's saliva out of his eye. When he did manage, he turned and glowered in Skrawl's direction. It was then that the jellybean's heart stopped beating. He had really blew it this time.

"You insignifcant piece of trash!" Greenhide's mouth split wide open, his bloodstained teeth exposed in the air. The mere sight of them caused Skrawl to recoil, the pain in his wounds radiating fiercely. "Forget what I said! Why don't I just make you uglier?!"

Skrawl struggled to get away. Pain wracked through his body and he was one more on the ground. He wrapped his arms around himself as he tried to shield himself from the pain. He forced himself to lift up his head and he watched with wide eyes as Greenhide bounded in his direction, tail flapping behind him. Then the crocodile leaped towards him and all Skrawl could do was shut his eyes and look away, waiting for the blow.

But it never came.

To Skrawl's confusion, without any kind of warning, some other blur entered the area. Small and nimble, it landed not far from where the crocodile was. The sudden appearance of this creature was enough to hault Greenhide's attack and make him shift his gaze. Like the others, Skrawl struggled to get a good look. And when he did, noticed something...familiar about this newcomer.

It was blue...

Just like Snap...

At this, Skrawl immediately stiffened up, his mind swirling with rapidly moving thoughts. He couldn't pull his gaze away from what he was seeing. A cold rush raced through him, soon replaced with something more akin to practical fire. He cared not how his veins were burning, however. His blurry vision focused on the blue creature. Blue and with two legs and was smaller than him.

Yes, this had to be Snap. One of the ones responsible for what happened to him. One of the ones who had ensured his arrest. One of the ones who had played some kind of part, he knew, back when he still had the artifiacts. He was certain that if it hadn't been for Snap, Mint would still have been on his side and...

His blood reachd its boiling point. He was shocked that his skin didn't burn at this point. He could not help but grit his teeth tightly, another growl escaping his throat. Though his body was still aching in pain, that seemed to fade away slowly as he managed to get up to his shaky feet.

He was not going to allow Snap to get away this time. He was not going to allow him the chance to flee from this situation. It was time that he paid for what he had done to him.

In that moment, Skrawl hardly paid attention to what was going on around him. He didn't notice the newcomer knocking down the tables. He didn't notice prisoners falling to the ground. He didn't notice if anyone was shouting in confusion, if any of them recognized who this was. THe only thing he was aware of was a small, two-legged blue moving figure whom he was certain had to be Snap. It mattered not if it made little sense. Just the mere sight of it was enough for him to react his decision.

Without any warning, he made a dash over, his feet pounding the ground, his mouth open and breathing heavily. He moved across the ground and amazing speed, considering his injuries. He was able to maintain this even as he limped a little, his feet staggering about, wobbly. He focused his attention on what laid before him, and he raised his hand, fully poised to strike.

Then the newcomer turned their gaze towards him. He could see blood red eyes staring back at him. The second he saw this, Skrawl was hit with a wave of confusion. Was this Snap, or...

"Gah!" Skrawl let out a howl of pain as he crumbled to the ground. He rested on his side, clutching against it as he felt...something starting to bulge open. "What's..happening..?!"

A chilly, feminine voice graced his ears at this.

"Such a naive little fool you are... But perhaps you are not as stupid as you look."

Skrawl flinched at how those words reminded him of what Greenhide said. Speaking of which, just where was he? Before he could open his eyes to look, he was struck with another bout of pain.

"Listen to me well. You will come with me. We have much to...discuss... And I don't have long to wait here."

Skrawl had absolutely no idea what was going on. His head was aching with confusion. He reached up and rubbed his head back and forth as he tried to deal with the pain that was spreading through his head. Oh what he wouldn't give for some kind of aspirin.

It was only after rubbing his head for a few moments that he started to get a sense of other things that were happening. As he opened his eyes and his vision sharpened a little, he looked around slowly. He took in a sharp gasp, unable to believe just what had taken place right before him. The things that happened when he was still too dizzied by his own pain to really notice.

Most of the prisoners had fled. He could see where the tables had been knocked down where they had initially been. Some plates were still filled with gruel, telling him that they left in a hurry.

The prisoners who were still around, however, they were a...different story..

Skrawl found it hard to take his eyes off the blood bath that laid before him. Most of the remaining prisoners were either on the ground, spasming from huge openings in their bodies or internal damage, or they were on the ground, curled up and shivering in pain and fear. Dark red fluid laid strewn about on the ground, making this place look almost like a macabre art display.

And there was Greenhide. He rested on the ground about seven feet away from him. His remaining eye was open and staring out, but it was clear that he saw nothing anymore. His eye had glazed over. Blood seeped out of his mouth, but there was no sign of physical injury. He had clearly died from something internal, like some of the others here. But how...

"I-It's her..."

"How did she escape..?"

"We are all doomed!"

She..? Were the others insinuating that this really was not...?

Skrawl squinted his eyes towards the blue shape. Now that his vision was getting more and more clear, he was starting to see details that he knew did not belong to Snap.

A long spiked tail.

Feathered arms.

Long ears.

Four clawed feet.

And there were those red eyes again, staring at him coldly. These eyes were filled with some kind of madness and cruelty that he was aware was not present in Snap. And as soon as he fully acknowledged all of this, the jellybean realized he was dealing with something that he did not yet fully understand. Just...who was this person..?

The blue dragon chortled upon seeing his expression. "I see you are curious. Well...I am curious about you..." She tilted her head to one side, raising her ears slightly. "But now is not the time to speak. Come now, and we shall...discuss things."

Skrawl didn't even get a chance to try to protest at this. He did not get any kind of say. No kind of warning. All he got was sharpness in his side, the feel of claws going into his flesh, and a pain swelling somewhere in his head that he could not detect. The last thing he remembered before everything went dark was the sensation of being lifted up into the air.

sss

"Let me go right now! I swear if you don't, I will claw out your eyes!"

"...do you really want me to do that now? We are about thirty, forty feet into the air..."

"This isn't how you treat a future king!"

Sandra gritted her teeth. A part of her wondered why she had even bothered with this guy. Maybe she should have just left that blasted prison on her own. What was the point of bringing along this stupid jellybean if he was going to just be a pain in the ass?

Well she did have good reason to bring him with. Unlike the other prisoners she had toyed with, Skrawl was...different. She sensed that he had some...personal encounters with the creators. That seemed quite correct. After all, didn't one of them tell her about it? Didn't another zoner inform her? He attacked the city once, didn't he? Yes..yes that had been him.

Funny, she never would have thought she'd have use for him. But here she was, carrying the struggling jellybean to a cliff side well far away from where the jail had been. She made no attempts to slow down or anything. She had to get into that cave system before the search lights spotted her.

Behind her, she could hear faint shouts as the guards attempted to locate her and Skrawl. She gritted her teeth and narrowed her eyes in determination. While she might have been able to gain some distance from them, she knew she was not out of the woods yet. If any of those guards caught her over here, they might still stand a chance to bring her back. They knew her weakness...

Ignoring Skrawl's shouts to be put down, she pumped her arm wings harder, striving to push herself faster and faster. She could feel her heart racing against her chest. She could feel a burning sensation within her as she pushed herself faster than she had ever flown before while carrying someone. She tried her best to ignore how tired she was getting, focusing as much as she could on getting to that dark cave tunnel...

At least, they made it. She flew around the tall, rocky structure, noting its details. She couldn't help but smile. There was something almost...welcoming about this place. It was such a testament to how sucky a jail is when a cave that looked like a fanged mouth looked much more inviting than a four-walled pristine-looking building.

"I swear if you don't release me right now..." Skrawl twisted and yanked himself about, ignoring the pain that this was clearly causing him. "I'm going to...!"

Sandra shrugged the best she could as she flew. "Okay..if you say so..."

"...wait!"

Sandra dove down towards the ledge, moving steadily faster. She only slowed down once she got past the first 'tooth' of the structure. She suddenly arched herself back, full stop, and allowed Skrawl to hover above the ground for a few moments. Then, without any warning, she just released him. She watched as Skrawl tumbled across the ground, landing on his head with his body arched forward. She couldn't help but chuckle at how funny he looked, especially with how he fell forward and soon landed on his back.

Sandra landed not far away from him and regarded him with piercing, narrowed eyes. A part of her was amazed that he had been able to wake up so fast. Her move should have rendered him unconscious for longer; she needed that quiet time so she could get out without him screaming. Instead of twenty minutes like she hoped, he woke up in half that time.

Which of course resulted in those guards trying to get them. Sandra looked out in the direction of the jail, her eyes narrowed and her teeth clenched. Those guard hadn't been easy to slip away from. They were quite the determinators. She could not even use her powers on them because not only was she too busy flying about and dodging them, but they knew to aim things at her head to disrupt her power. She groaned as she rubbed her head. She never thought she would have been grateful if she just had a helmet.

But at least they were far away from that place. Far away from where she had been locked away for a so-called 'crime'. Where she had been persecuted unfairly, where everyone labeled her a monster. A place where she had been alone with only her thoughts as company.

She heard a grunting sound and she turned her head to look over her shoulders. She watched as Skrawl climbed up to his feet. He was a little unsteady on his feet, but nonetheless managed to remain standing. His mismatched eyes glared at her, one still swollen and the other still partially closed from the gash upon it. His lips were curled back into a snarl and he breathed in shaky, growly breaths. Then, with his claws curling inward on his hand, he began to move forward.

Before Skrawl could even think of doing anything, however, Sandra stopped him. With a single raising of her hand, it was more than enough to make the jellybean pause and stare at her in confusion. His eyes remained narrowed and he motioned his hand towards her, giving her a chance to speak. The look in his eyes told her silenty that she had better have a good reason for what she did.

Oh he did not have to worry. She did. With her smile broadening, her arms folded as she leaned back against the rocky surface, she began to speak.

"I take it you are Skrawl, am I right?" She did not bother waiting for an answer before she continued infuriating Skrawl when he tried to reply. "I have heard so much about you. I see you and are in a sense...kindred spirits... Both of us have been wronged by the same...few people..."

Skrawl narrowed his eyes further, looking as though he were suspicious. "So you know about that? Congratulations..." He took a step towards her and pointed his claw in her direction. "But that does not explain what we are doing here...and what you want with me?" He motioned to himself. "So I hope you have something you can say for yourself! And do not try anything on me... I can see right though the deepest of lies..."

"Of course you can. Duly noted." Sandra wanted to roll her eyes at this. She knew full well that this creature had no idea what he was talking about. She knew that he could not read into lies, otherwise he would not be so easily fooled before. "I am still certain that you...have the same desire as me..."

Skrawl tilted his head to one side. "And what desire might that be?"

Sandra grinned. "Revenge, my dear jellybean. A chance to get back at those who wronged you." She motioned her hand towards him, her fingers curling inward. "Now isn't that something that is worth the risk? Are you not glad that I took you out of that wretched place?"

"Revenge...?" Skrawl paused for a moment. He stared at her long and hard. His facial expression indicated that he might not be fully aware of what she was talking about. Then, as if realizing what she was alluding to, a smile spread across his face and he began to tap his claws tips together. "...against who...may I ask, dragon?"

Sandra sneered. "Why, against Rudy and his bratty friends, of course..."

There was a twinkle in Skrawl's eyes, all but confirming the desire she already knew that he had. "That sounds delightful.." He paused and then stared at her with slightly narrowed eyes. "Just...who are you, anyway..?"

Sandra jumped up into the air, flapping to stay aloft. "I think it is best we talk further elsewhere. Come along." She made her way towards one of the tunnels leading deeper inside the cave. She gave pause for a moment before looking over at Skrawl, giving a twisted grin. "Oh and my name is Sandra, by the way."

As the two continued down, a part of her wondered if she had made the right decision. She was aware of how Skrawl was, and how he could betray her...

But she didn't have a choice anymore, did she? And besides, he could still be of use to her. She'd just watch him real close, and keep him under control.


	7. Newsflash

Right now! Lights out! Let your panic out!

-Release The Panic, Red

sss

It was difficult to say if today was going to be any better. They all hoped that they would be able to do...something to help lighten up the situation. Now that they had more time to think, surely one of them could think of something, right? Even if it took a while, maybe they...

Oh who was she kidding? She had been up longer than usual trying to figure something out. And so far, nothing came to mind. No matter how hard she tried to think, she just...could not think of a solution. She tried so many different solutions through her head. She had only ended up with a severe headache to the point of needing to take some medication. Even now, she was still rubbing her temples as she tried to get her mind to relax. She could only hope that her friends had better luck.

But no. From what she had been told, they weren't any luckier than her. She could not be sure if they had stayed up as long as she had, trying to think of a solution. But she was aware that they did work really hard. She could see it in their eyes, the way the skin aroun them had darkened up. The sight of it made her suck on her lip as she was reminded of the hardships that were ahead all of them.

But Penny wasn't in any position to give up. Even if the situation seemed hopeless, she still strived to keep trying to do..something to help out the zoners. Maybe a scanner was not the solution. Maybe she just needed to focus her attention in another area. But what..?

"Let's get going, you guys." It wasn't Rudy who spoke, but instead Mint. The slightly older teenager stood before the large chalkboard. "We can't keep Snap waiting."

Penny eyed the chalkboard for a few moments. She remembered how she and Mint had pitched in to get it so that Rudy had an easier time getting into ChalkZone. They had been lucky lately that they could get him in without his parents interfering. She turned her gaze to Mint and gave him a small nod. "Yeah. You know how he can be if we are late."

"I'm sure he understands." Mint stated as he moved towards Rudy. The expression on his face made it clear what he was indicating. There was a bit of silent understanding before Mint grabbed onto the back of Rudy's wheelchair. "Now come on. Maybe Snap has had better luck than us."

Rudy gave a small chuckle. "I just hope it's better than his dream house plans."

Mint paused and stared down at Rudy. Cocking an eyebrow in confusion, he asked, "..dream house...?"

Trying her best not to smile too much, Penny waved her hand dismissively. "We will tell you all about it later."

Though Mint clearly looked as if he wanted to ask more questions, he didn't attempt to speak further. He just nodded his head slowly and headed to the large portal that had been drawn, waiting for them to enter.

Penny went through the portal first and then turned to face Mint. She began to aid him with Rudy. She gripped the front part of the wheelchair, and together, they lifted it up with a grunt and carried it over through the portal. There was a little bit of trouble. A bang or two. But soon they were able to get it completely through. As soon as they were all in, they set Rudy down.

Penny made sure the portal was erased. It was too big a risk now to leave it open. A small one could be covered, but lately, the few portals they could create for Rudy had to be much larger to accompany his wheelchair. As soon as she got finished with that, she waisted no time and caught up with her two friends. She took position by Mint and Rudy and the two of them walked along the grassy field, Mint pushing Rudy in tow.

Penny stared down at Rudy. She couldn't help but feel a small pang of guilt twisting through her body. She didn't even know why she felt guilty; it wasn't her who put Rudy in this situation. But maybe if she had just acted quicker...

But what was done was done and there was nothing she could do about it. No matter what she did, no matter how awful she felt and wanting to 'make it up to Rudy', nothing would alter the fact that Sandra had permanently crippled her best friend. Rudy could never run these fields again. He couldn't jump through a smaller portal. He couldn't jump on Snap and play wrestle with him anymore. He could only...sit and be pushed. She couldn't even begin to imagine what Rudy must feel right now, being trapped in his body like that.

She struggled to push those thoughts in the back of her mind for now. They weren't going to do her any good and right now they had something more presently urgent to take care of. Rudy could at least function, even if it was more limited. But the zoners were another story.

Still so paranoid. Still so afraid. Still terrified of their own shadows... She understood why her friends were getting frustrated by this. She was as well, to some degree.

Yet like her friends, she also could not blame them. Sandra's influence was just so great. But still...they had to so something to stop them from acting so crazy. She knew this was going to be a harder task than before, because these zoners were not simply being controlled by the Signal or anything. They were being controlled by their fear of Sandra. And everyone knows just how difficult it is to control fear.

They walked in silence for about a minute before Rudy decided to break it.

"...why does it so quiet...?"

Mint turned his head down. "What do you mean? It's always tranquil here."

"Not to this degree." Rudy shook his head. "I mean, where's Snap? Where's the zoners that like to play around here? It is just...way too quiet."

At this, they all froze. They glanced at each other, blinking their eyes a few times. They quickly realized that Rudy did have a point there. It did feel just...way too quiet right now. Normally they would hear the chatter of someone. Even a shout from Snap as he rushes to join them.

But today...nothing. It was almost as if someone had turned the mute button on. This was not normal. This total silence was not something they had some to expect when they came into ChalkZone. They were used to at least one zoner coming here to either see them or play at one of the new areas here. For no one to be around...

Penny felt her heart twist. She quickly realized that there wasn't much that this could mean except...

...something was going on...

She swiveled her head to Mint and Rudy. She gave them a wide-eyed, urgent stare. She silently spoke to them, communicating only through her facial expressions. Then, when she was certain that they understood what she wanted, she turned her head and she began to move at a quicker pace through the field. They had to get to ChalkZone City as soon as possible.

Penny wasn't sure how long it took them. She wasn't sure how long she heard Mint panting or how many times she heard Rudy grunt when they ran into a few bumps and dips along the way. Her eyes were too focused on the landscape before her, too focused on looking for the buildings she knew were out there. It would only be a matter of time before they would spot them.

Then at last, she could see them. Not straight away of course. Just a small glimmer. But as they kept on moving, they seemed to slowly grow out of the ground. The various colored buildings that made up the city. It took only a short time before the buildings had grown to be taller than they were, and she could see where the first patch of concrete was positioned. With one more huff, Penny found her feet touching it, feeling the instinct change from a soft ground to a harder, studier one.

It was a little more difficult getting Rudy onto the concrete. They had to lift him up even higher to get over the ridge. This was never an easy task. Penny and Mint were still willing to do it for Rudy, of course. But they both were afraid of slipping up and letting him fall. And they could see the look of fear and worry in Rudy's eyes whenever they had to do this. But once they did have Rudy on the sidewalk, they returned to their original positions when they first got into ChalkZone and began to walk along the sidewalk.

Unlike the open, grassy fields from before, the city was not abandoned. Almost as soon as they entered it, they could already hear a chorus of voices erupting from one location. And when the three human creators turned around the corner of the building and entered onto the main street of ChalkZone City, they could see the source of the noise.

Not far from them, there the police station was located, they could see what appeared to be a large group of zoners. They were all clamoring around this one spot, looking as if they were forming a large circle around someone. They were all talking at once, which made it difficult to discern just what was being said. The only thing any of them could be sure of is that the zoners sounded really...worried about something. Most of them wore horrified glances, which further confirmed this suspicion.

Penny turned and stared over at her two friends. Mint and Rudy looked back at her, looking as worried as she did. Penny then looked back at the zoners, licking her lips nervously. Without further hesitation, she rushed over to the nearest zoner.

"Hey, what's going on?" She asked as she placed her hand on a medium height stick figure zoner.

The stick figure zoner hardly paid attention to her. He did jerk a little at her touch, but nonetheless did not react. His full attention was on whoever the zoners were trying to talk to. It also didn't appear as though he heard her, which was of no surprise considering how loud and booming the zoners were being right now.

Penny attempted to gain the attention of a few more zoners. Each time she was meant with the same silent treatment. None of the zoners were realizing that she was there. They were just...too focused on trying to ask...someone questions, trying to have their voices heard. None of the zoners seemed to really notice that the three human creators had arrived. And something told Penny that, even if they did notice, that wouldn't stop them from continuing to bombard this someone with loads of undiscernable questions.

Penny took a few steps back and stared at the crowd, her eyes furrowing in concern. Just what had all these zoners so spooked? They were worried enough as it was yesterday. But today...

Something had clearly changed.

The zoners before her were pushing against each other and shoving. They were raising their voices, trying to be heard above all the others. Most of them looked terrified. Some were furious and shaking their fists. It was just...a sea of madness, and she and her friends had no idea just what caused it.

"Rudy! Penny! Mint!" A voice called out suddenly, startling the humans. They relaxed immediately when they saw that it was only their friend, Snap. The blue and white zoner had dissipated from the crowd, coming out of an area that they could not see from this angle, and was rushing towards them. "Thank goodness you are here!"

"What's wrong, Snap?" Rudy asked quickly, shifting in his wheelchair so he could stare down at his friend. "What is happening?"

"Yeah! Why are the zoners..." Mint looked over at the crowd. He only stared for a few moments before lifting his hand motioning towards the. "..acting like this..?"

Penny bent her knees as Snap got closer to her. When the zoner was near enough, he used one hand to grab onto her knee for support. Penny used one of her hands to grab onto Snap's arm and helped to support him. The poor little guy must be just as spooked as the other zoners. Even with how short the distance was, Snap's earlier panic caused him to be out of breath already.

"It's..." Snap gasped between heavy breaths. "I-It's terrible..."

"What happened, Snap?" Penny asked, her voice stern and urgent. She held on tighter to Snap, bringing herself down to his level and staring directly at him. Snap looked at her with wide eyes and an open, panting mouth. "Tell us..what's wrong...?"

It took only seconds for Snap to shout a phrase that caused their blood to freeze.

"Skrawl's out of jail!"

At this, the three humans went silent. They stared at Snap long and hard, their eyes unable to move away. They couldn't speak. They didn't dare to breathe. They just kept watching Snap, hoping, praying, that he was mistaken, that there had to be something else.

But the more that Snap didn't say anything, the more they started to realize...no, this wasn't some kind of cruel joke. This wasn't a mistake. One by one, the three human friends looked at each other, exchanging silent messages. Out of them, and for good reason, Mint was the most shaken up, staring out into the distance and hardly responding to anything Rudy was saying.

Penny looked at Snap, her voice caught on her throat. She breathed in and out slowly, her mind swirling with thoughts. She watched the terrified look that was plastered over Snap's large, white eyes. She licked her lips and swallowed nervously. She could vaguely hear the police officer, the ones the zoners must be crowding around, trying to soothe their fears and get them to settle down. She just focused on Snap long and hard before she managed to squeak out her next question.

"What happened, Snap...?"

Snap did not waste anytime and he began, in a shaky, trembling voice, to relay the information to the three startled and horrified humans.

sss

"Well that didn't bring us any closer..." Rudy grumbled softly.

"It was worth a try at least." Penny pointed out.

"Still..." Snap folded his arms against his chest. "...with how urgent all of this is, you'd think that they would be more or less on top of things. I've never seen such disorganization..."

Mint could only nod in agreement. Out of all of them, he had remained the most silent. He did ask the occasional question as they spoke to some of the zoners around here. Other than that, he was just silent. Almost like he was a living ghost or something.

It was just...he couldn't bring himself to speak. His mind had gone so numb. He could feel thoughts racing through, refusing to let up, refusing to give him any sense of peace. He didn't realize it until Penny pointed it out, but he had actually started to walk a little hunched, his arms moving around his body as though to hug himself.

He didn't mean to look this scared. He didn't mean to allow his thoughts to control him like this. But...just how was he supposed to remain calm? Especially in the light of such...terrifying news...? He wasn't even sure how the others were so calm about this...

..okay so they weren't calm. Like the zoners, they were quite upset. He could tell just by looking in their eyes. He could see the horror that splattered through. He could see the fear that was plastering over their faces. Skrawl's freedom was not something to sneeze at. It was not something that they'd dare dismiss to lightly. And what made it so urgent wasn't just the fact that he escaped, but where he had escaped from.

What was the name of that jail? Mint was certain it had gone through a few name changes. The last name he recalled being associated with it was The Speculum. A rather odd name for such a place. Maybe it was referring to the dimensional prisons they had there, reserved for the worst of the worst, such as Sandra herself.

Mint felt a pang in his chest. He wondered why Skrawl had not been placed in one of these cells. Hadn't he proven to be one of the worst villains around? Hadn't he caused enough damage to warrant him being locked up in here? After all, he did play a major part in what happened all those years ago. He might have been the one to do those horrible acts of destroying parts of ChalkZone, but it was Skrawl who had pulled the strings.

Perhaps the guards thought that a regular cell would have been fine. And maybe for a while, it was. But now that evil jellybean was loose again. Mint had to wonder if those guards now feel stupid for not using something a lot more...secure.

"I still want to know how he got out of there." Rudy spoke up. "I mean... that place was well guarded and.."

"Well it was apparently not well guarded enough." Mint spat, using a slightly more aggressive tone than he had intended.

Rudy looked over at him in shock before his expression softened up. "...yeah..."

Mint was glad that his friends did not stare at him too long. He sometimes felt it a little embarrassing, plus it made him feel nervous. However, despite them not staring at him too much, he could still feel their eyes boring into him in that short amount of time. It was brief, but still more than enough to stir up some rather uncomfortable feelings.

He could not complain too much. They were still his friends. They did care about him. They were only worried for him. They all could never forget what happened that day when they stood up to Skrawl together, for the first time. Back when Snap's back was still recovering, back when Skrawl had the artifacts...

...back when Mint lost his leg...

Mint felt a sharp tingle in his leg, just above where it entered into the prosthetic. He still had nightmares even years later. He could still feel the sharp blade entering his body. He could still remember the horrific pain that clashed through, and how he had nearly died if it hadn't been for Rudy and especially Penny's intervention. He licked his lips and felt his heart skip several beats. The fact that he had nearly died there weighed heavily on his mind.

Wanting to push the conversation forward and not wanting his friends to be too nervous about him for long, Mint said quickly, "But maybe there is someone who might know?" He raised his hand up. "Surely someone around here must know something."

Penny shrugged her shoulders. "I'm sure there is, but we haven't found them yet."

"Yeah, in case you forgot, we asked probably everyone in town." Snap raised his arms up into the air. "Even that flipping penguin officer didn't know a damn thing!"

Mint flinched at the memory. He recalled how they had attempted to speak to the officer the other zoners had gathered around. It hadn't been easy getting through. It was even more difficult getting the penguin officer to notice them. It was at least a little easier once the penguin officer, whom they recognized as the same one from before, saw them and huddled out to speak with them.

But they were sorely disappointed. Officer Samuel, as he liked to call himslef, had almost no information. This bit was what caused Mint to flinch. He found it hard to believe that Officer Samuel had no information to give them. Nothing to calm down the citizens other than a 'we are working on it' statement, which was only good for a short while before someone would say something.

Which they did. Many of the zoners refused to allow Officer Samuel to leave their sights. Even as the group of four friends left to question other zoners, the penguin officer was still bombarded with questions.

What really got to Mint, however, was not the apparent lack of questions. Instead it was just...the overall silence. Well yeah that could be the same as lack of questions, but he was thinking more along the lines of an...intentional silence. Officer Samuel could indeed have no answers to give them. But that didn't mean that it was due to him not having information. Maybe he did but was deliberately holding it back.

The idea made him uncomfortable. And it wasn't because of him being angry at Officer Samuel for holding back information. Sometimes that was just necessary. No, what worried him was the reason for holding back information. One of the reasons this would be done was to avoid a riot. And if that was the case...

...then just what did Officer Samuel know...? What more had happened with Skrawl's escape...? Was there something more to this break out than he could imagine...?

What were they hiding?

Snap folded his arms against his chest. "I still can't believe no one around here has any information that we can use..."

Penny looked over at him sadly, nodding her head. "It is rather unfortunate." She inhaled slowly and exhaled. It was rare that Penny looked at a loss for words. And when that happened, Mint knew just how serious things were. "One of ChalkZone's most notorious criminals is out there and none of the zoners in the city seem to know just how he got out..."

Rudy furrowed his eyes. "That means we can only try one thing." The others stared at him in curiosity, waiting for him to speak. Rudy stared at them intently before speaking in a slightly low yet determined voice. "We go directly to the jail itself and ask them."

Mint widened his eyes a little. "Are you sure about that, Rudy?" He raised his hand up in gesture. "Do you really think they would even bother listening to us?"

"Yeah." Snap rolled his eyes. "They might take one look at us and make us walk right out."

It was unsurprising to them all that Snap held the most bitterness for jails. Even though Skrawl was held at a different jail than he had been, that didn't change the fact that Snap had been quite soured on them. Not that he had ever loved them before. It was just..his whole attitude regarding them had darkened ever since he had been locked up for a crime that he hadn't committed, and was subjected to torment the whole time that he was there.

The worst of it came from Taima. The zoner may have apologized for his actions, but Snap still could not bring himself to fully forgive him. His friends could not blame him for it. Taima was the worst of them all. Beating up Snap, controlling him, making him so terrified... Snap's time in jail wasn't just a nightmare. It was a practical night terror and it was all because of what Taima had done to him.

Mint licked his lips slowly. As much as he hated the idea of going near another jail after how poorly Snap had been treated, he ultimately realized that...Rudy might be right. That might be their only chance of getting some answers. Maybe upon arriving, they could at least try to convince one of the officers to tell them a little something at least.

Besides, what did they have to lose? The only thing that would happen is either they got new information or they just...remained right were they were. They couldn't back pedal with this. And with Skrawl out there, if there was any additional information they could figure out, even the smallest detail of how he could have escaped, they needed to know.

"We could at least try." Penny spoke up, cutting Mint from his thoughts. He and the others watched her carefully as she continued to speak. "They might have something that we could use to help find Skrawl."

"And what if they refuse to talk?" Mint asked abruptly before Penny could continue. He hated being the bearer of bad news, but there was one thing he needed to make sure they all understood. "What if they have to be silent about something? What if there is something that they just...cannot tell us?"

At this, Penny, Snap, and Rudy looked at each other nervously. Penny looked back at Mint, her eyes widened. Then she slowly narrowed them into small slits.

"Then we will just have to be more...persuasive..."

Mint took a small step back. "And how do you propose we do that? We can't just walk up to them and demand the information." Mint didn't like sounding like a downer. But jails were just harder to mess with, especially as of late when they got stricter. "We don't want to give them any reason to go.." He stopped himself before he said 'after Snap'. He backtracked and said, "...use other methods..."

Penny looked at him sympathetically, as though she understood what he was referring to. "I know, Mint. But we just... We can't just..." Penny stammered for a couple of seconds, tripping over her own tongue. It took a while before she started to clear her throat and attempted to speak again. "We have to try something, you know?"

"I agree." Rudy was slightly reluctant in saying that. Mint wondered if he was thinking something similar to him. Was he thinking about what happened with Snap before? "We do need to at least...try." He narrowed his eyes as he turned his attention in the direction of the jail. "If they knew what was good for ChalkZone, they'd tell us..."

The four friends nodded in agreement at this. No one really had any protest to that. And why would they? It was quite true, really. If it came to the safety of ChalkZone, the guards and officers may be more willing to speak. After all, they live in ChalkZone themselves. If something were to happen, they would surely want to do whatever it took to get it fixed.

Yet none of them could not push aside the possibility of withholding information, either. There was still a very real chance that something like that could happen, whether to keep zoners from panicking or for some other reason. And if that were to happen...

Mint was certain that they could figure something out. It would not be easy of course, and he did not want to do anything to give the police force reason to come after them as well. They would need to either be convincing or at least silent as they tried to uncover as much information as possible. And maybe, after they spoke with the officers, they would be one stop closer to finding Skrawl.

Though that could end up just being wishful thinking. If it was going to be anything like last time, he may end up with more questions than answers. And if that happened...

"Hey maybe you could bring along Ripclaw." Snap said with a sly smile, motioning his hand towards a confused Mint. "Maybe she would be able to make them more willing to talk."

"Snap!" Penny put her hands on her hips. She said nothing more. Her glare was enough to make the zoner cringe slightly and smile nervously at her.

"Hey I was just saying. You know that those guards might be unwilling to speak. So I thought that maybe a little 'inspiration' would be enough to..." Snap started to say.

Rudy interrupted him. "All that will do is draw unwanted attention to us. Do you really think that if we tried to force information via the use of a large raptor, that it is going to go over well with everyone?"

Snap flinched at this and lowered his head. "Yeah...you've got a point there. I'm sorry."

Although Mint was shocked by what Snap suggested, he couldn't say that he was too upset with him. He took a few steps towards his friend and placed his hand on his shoulder. When Snap looked up at him, Mint gave the best smile that he could muster up. "We will think of something. I'm sure of it."

Snap stared at him for a few moments. It did seem at first that Snap was comforted. However this only lasted a short time before his eyes furrowed. Not out of anger but out of confusion and uncertainty. "How...can you be so sure...?" Snap slowly tilted his head to one side. "Do you have any ideas?"

"Yeah, Mint. Do you?" Rudy turned to face him. It took only a few seconds for Rudy to read Mint's face and he gave a sigh. "Though I'm sure you're just as confused as the rest of us."

Mint opened his mouth to speak. But sadly, he was right. He really was just as perplexed and uncertain. He couldn't really think of anything to say. All he could do was fall silent and lower his head. He felt a pang of guilt as he realized he could not say anything to make the situation better for his friends...or for ChalkZone for that matter.

But..they could not give up. Not now. Skrawl was running loose out there. He could be terrorizing a part of ChalkZone right now. They could not allow him to run free for long. They had to...

"It would seem our best bet is to just...go and talk to the officers in the jail." Penny said as she tapped a finger against her chin thoughtfully. "I know we might not get any results. But...we have to try. Or we will be standing here, twiddling our fingers, doing nothing, and wasting time."

Mint flinched at this. He realized that Penny was right. They all did. They were wasting time trying to think of other plans. They should have acted upon this one first and then talk to each other about other ways to gather information should they not find anything useful about whatever the guards at the prison tell them.

"Yeah, she's right. Come on, everyone." Mint narrowed his eyes as he stared at his friends. He gave them a stern nod and he could tell they knew where he was going with this. "Let's pay The Speculum a little visit..."

sss

Snap pulled his head back and stared up at the tall structure before them. "So...this is The Speculum...?"

"It looks quite large. I've never seen a jail here this size." Commented Mint.

Penny nodded her head. "Indeed. I think this is still pretty new. I know this was not here when Rudy and I were ten." She looked over at Rudy, whom she was walking beside. "Do you remember this?"

Rudy grunted as he pumped his arms, pushing his wheelchair to keep up with his friends. "No, I have not." He said quickly to answer her question.

Indeed, Rudy did not really remember this jail being here before when he was a kid. Or maybe it had been here and he just did not remember it. Regardless, this would still be the first time he actually visited it. Well, if you could call this visiting. It was more akin to a meeting than anything else, even if they had no appointment here. And he hoped it stayed that way, for good reason.

He did take some time to look around, although he spent most of it paying attention to what was in front of him. With the bumpiness of the grass they were walking across and the fact that his friends were walking close, Rudy did not want to take the chance of hitting them or getting himself hurt.

But he was still able to see enough to have an idea of what this place looked like. The Speculum looked on the surfac very much like a fancy Real World prison. It was white in color and almost seemed to sparkle, making it look deceptively inviting. He had seen several searchlights moving about, and plenty of areas for snipers to hide in cause they were trying to shoot something. Multiple windows lined along the walls, small barred openings to allow the prisoners to see the outside, a harsh reminder of what they had lost.

The building itself stood several stories tall, about as tall as some of the tallest skyscrapers in ChalkZone City. Unlike a couple jails he saw, The Speculum liked a spikey appearance, or anything that made it appear like a deathtrap. Even the search lights looked kinda pretty, like it was some kind of big show. Rudy wondered if this was to add to the psychological torment of the criminals, or if it was to help the law abiding citizens feel more at ease.

Rudy was glad that this building was placed on concrete, otherwise he had no idea how he was going to get inside without too much trouble. It was bad enough moving about along the grass; he hated to think what would happen if he were to attempt to head into a building that is placed on grass, or worse yet, having all the floors be made of grass and dirt...Okay that was silly thinking, but considering this was ChalkZone he was talking about, anything was possible.

At least it didn't take them too long to get off the grass and onto the concrete. Rudy did require help from his friends. He did feel a little bad about it, but he normally kept silent. There was nothing wrong with getting help from them, he told himself. Still...he would have liked to alleviate them the trouble...

He stopped himself before he could go down one of his 'self pitying' trips. He didn't really mean to be like this. Most of the time, actually, he wasn't. There were just very few times where he'd feel upset about it. Sometimes he would...just be reminded of all the times he helpd his friends, and he was no longer able to do that as much. His friend were helping him with something as the result of an incident that never would have happened if he had just...been quicker.

Pushing those thoughts out of his head and focusing on the task at hand, he and his friends headed over to the large double doors that led to the inside of the prison. It looked as if the floor was completely flat, much to Rudy's relief. He'd be able to get through just fine without having to rely on his friends. A bit of independence.

And sure enough, he did. His friends were the first ones who went through and they did leave the door open for him, which he didn't mind. He felt a bit of relief as he passed through the doors. It seemed silly, but people really do take such things for granted. It was...

"Hello, how may I be of service to you?" A large, muscular zoner spoke.

Rudy and his friends looked over and notced a somewhat tall, brown wooden desk positioned near the wall. It was littered with all kinds of paperwork and two cups of coffee. There was a monitor situated there, the glow of the screen shining against the wall and the zoner's skin.

And the zoner himself appeared to be a kind of bull. His horns twisted around and aimed at the front, the sharp tips glinting. His broad, flaring nostrils were pierced with a silver ring. His body was covered in grey brown fur. His long, tufted tail swished from side to side, lifted high above the ground.

"Hello, sir." Penny was the first one to speak. Being the voice of reason among them, she was the best suited to speak to the guard about what they wanted. "We just have a few questions."

"Really now?" The bull raised an eyebrow. "Well, maybe I can help you with that. My name is Bell and..." Snap started to chuckle at this. The bull glared over at the sniggering zoner. "Something funny...?"

Immediately Snap froze at this. He gave a nervous grin over to the bull guard. He shook his head. "Nuh uh!"

Bell growled softly at this. He said nothing more to Snap before he turned his attention back to Penny. "So what did you want to know?"

Penny kept walking forward until she was positioned right in front of the desk. She placed her hands against the edges and leaned in, staring straight into the bull's eyes. "We need to know more about Skrawl's break out."

Bell blinked his eyes a few times. He then narrowed them and snorted. "I am sorry, but that is confidential information." He reached his hands up to adjust the tie that he was wearing. "If you have another question, maybe I can..."

"Perhaps you didn't hear her." Snap took a few steps forward, forgetting about what happened just a few moments ago. "But she said we need information about Skrawl. Not about one of your other criminals or your laundry duty or whatever else." Snap made a few gestures with his hand as he spoke. "We need to know about Skrawl."

Mint nodded his head. "That is correct." He paused when Bell stared at him intently. Rudy had to wonder if Bell was one of the zoners Mint hurt back when he was the Enemy Creator. Mint managed to continue, "We need to know how he escaped so we can..."

Bell let out a low growl. "And maybe you didn't hear me..." He leaned in closer, staring intently at Penny, Mint, and Snap, his eyes looking as if they were piercing right through their very souls. "That information is not for you. I don't care how many times you lot saved ChalkZone. The rules are the rules, and for now, that information is top secret."

"So you are hiding something..." Mint growled, a tone of disbelief in his voice.

Bell stared at him with one eye. "Call it what you want." He turned his head to one side. "I am not telling you anything about Skrawl. Not yet. If you really want to know, you can wait and I will..."

"But we can't wait that long!"

Everyone fell silent as they turned their gaze towards Rudy. He had been silent up to this point, but hearing just how reluctant this zoner was being filled Rudy with horror. He may have expected something like this, but it was still quite a shock that it was even happening. Just..how could he...?

Without thinking, Rudy grabbed onto his wheels and started to push against them, propelling himself forward. He moved at a pretty quick rate, and he swear it took only two seconds for him to reach where his friends where. He stared intently at the bull zoner, panting quickly as he tried to catch his breath. Then he spoke in a slightly airy voice.

"Please, sir, at least consider. We need to know so we can stop Skrawl. We can't let him run around in ChalkZone for long. We need to know how he escaped so that we have a better idea of where he could be. His escape could yield important clues. And in the end, we need those to prevent him from escaping yet again. Please, Bell, you have to help us."

But Bell did not seem all that interested in cooperating. He merely growled and lowered his head swiftly. His eyes drilled through his mind and Rudy tensed up. "And I will repeat. That information is confidential."

Rudy couldn't believe just how stubborn this bull was being. Did he not realize that by holding back information, he was just going to make it worse for everyone else? Was he really that dense? He didn't want to think that about someone he didn't really know that well. But jeezus, it was really starting to look that way.

Did ChalkZone's safety mean nothing to him? Did he really not care? Didn't he want Skrawl captured quickly? If he was worried that they would spread the information, he'd be more than happy to clam up. The information was safe with them. But...if only he would be more cooperative...

"I am sorry, Rudy. But I still cannot allow it." The bull said in a forcibly calm voice. It was clear that his patience was beginning to wear thin. "Now pack and leave. We are through here, and I have more important things to attend to right now."

Rudy and his friends glared at the bull when he said that. How...how could Bell even think to say that? How could he think that this wasn't so important? Okay so he didn't say it like that. Still, it was the way he worded that made it sound so... Rudy clenched his fists tightly as he struggled to keep himself from snapping.

Well if he wasn't going to tell them anything, then there was really only one option left. It was something that he had considered in the back of his mind, and now it seemed that it was their only option left.

"Can we at least take a look at anything in the jail? Gather up any clues?" Rudy suggested as he held up his hand in gesture. "My friends and I could look around and try to find what we can on our own, and we can use the information to..."

"I'm sorry, but no." Bell cut him off. "That would be forbidden as well."

"What? But..."

"Silence!" Bell lifted his head up and glared down at Rudy. "I will hear not another word from you four. Since it is clear that you only came here for information about Skrawl, I will have to ask you to leave. I am sorry that I cannot help you any further for the time being. And I promise that I will give you the information you desire, but only when my superior deems it necessary. So for now, bye!"

Rudy wasn't about to give up yet. "Please..if you'd just let me..."

"Heh..and just what makes you think you could do anything...cripple?" Bell said in a cold tone of voice.

At this, Rudy gave a sharp gasp of breath, his heart nearly stop beating, his blood turning to ice. He took in several shaky breaths as his swirling mind comprehended what the bull had just told him. He couldn't even try to speak.

He could feel his friends' eyes upon him. He could tell they were horrified, even though he was not looking straight at them. He could hear one of them approaching. He could feel a thick hand on his shoulder. Mint... Rudy wanted to look up at him and see a reassuring face, yet he could not bring himself to do anything. He was just...frozen.

Rudy could feel himself being moved. Mint had grabbed onto his wheelchair and was starting to guide him out. He could sense Penny standing next to him, keeping close. Her hand was on his arm, gently caressing it. Rudy forced himself to look up at her, and he could see the shock and hurt and worry in her eyes. She looked down at him and gave him a shaky smile, trying to silently reassure him that it was all right.

Rudy couldn't even try to smile back at her. He was just way too...stunned. That was the only word he could use to describe how he felt right now. Stunned, and even that didn't really fully explain everything that he was thinking right now.

"Creepazoid..." He heard Snap hiss at Bell before he trotted over to catch up to them. "Rudy, are you okay?"

Although Rudy was trying his best to fight back the tears that were forming, he managed to nod his head and gave his friend a very shaky, slight smile. "Y-Yeah...I'm fine..."

"Don't listen to what he says." Snap said as he placed his hand on his arm. "He doesn't know what he's talking about."

"Yeah, I know..."

None of them said anything else during the trip back into ChalkZone City.


	8. The Next Course Of Action

Everybody's looking for something.  
-Sweet Dreams, Emily Browning

sss

Cripple...

That word continued to echo inside Rudy’s mind. No matter what he did or tried, he could not get it to stop ringing in his head. He continued to feel it keeping him in its grasp, refusing to let him go, refusing to allow him to think more clearly. If it weren’t for Mint pushing him, he’d probably have ran into several obstacles by this point.

Rudy had learned to tune out what the other students say about him. He had already been used to being sort of ‘invisible’ there. He was used to having few friends. It didn’t matter if he still walked or not; they still would have found some way to make fun of him. Especially Reggie.

But hearing it from a zoner... That was a lot harder for him to ignore. He just could not get over the fact that someone whom he was, on a regular basis, protecting daring to say something like that about him. Bell likely owed his very life to him. And yet because he was in a wheelchair now, suddenly he was not any good?

Rudy let out a pained sigh. Unfortunately, that was something that he had to get used to. A large number of zoners started to treat him differently ever since he was crippled by Sandra. They still showed happiness that he returned, but some seemed to have started to get this mind set that he was less capable. Even if some of them were likely just nervous of making him try to do something he was not as capable of doing, it still hurt.

Most of the time, it was not meant as an insult. Such as Officer Samuel. Him ignoring him was distasteful, but he was not intentionally malicious about it. It still stung, but Rudy did his best to take these in stride.

But Bell was one of the more dark cases. Bell knew exactly what he was saying and doing. And he didn’t care. He had deliberately insulted him and the look on his face strongly indicated that he didn’t care if he hurt him or not. Bell was definitely being hostile there and calling him ‘cripple’ was a direct attack on him.

“Come on, Rudy. Don’t let what that guy said get to you.”

“Yeah, he has no idea what he’s talking about.”

“He’s just being a jerk. Don’t listen to what he said.”

Rudy recalled the words of his friends. He licked his lips slowly, comprehending everything that they said. He knew they were right. And even if they didn’t say anything, he was fully aware of the truth of the words on his own. He really could not let this get to him. They had other, more important things to worry about.

But still...it was not going to be easy. He could not easily dismiss the harsh words from a zoner. Those always had a bigger impact on him, especially harsh ones like from Bell not too long ago. He just...found those harder to let go. He may have learned to deal with what was said about him by other students. But a cruel phrase from a zoner was still able to bring him to tears.

He could feel a comforting hand on his shoulder. He turned his head a little, and he could see that it was Penny. Her gentle, reassuring smile did help to settle him down. He was still quite shaken from what happened, but seeing Penny’s face did help him feel a little better. His friends always helped to make things all right.

Rudy struggled to push those thoughts aside for now to focus on the more urgent situation. Since Bell....that guard...was refusing to offer them any information willingly, they would need to try something else. It was important that they get whatevere information so that they could properly deal with the situation regarding Skrawl.

It did seem strange, though. Why would...that guard...deliberately hide such information? Why would that be confidential? Well sure from other zoners, he could see. But from him and his friends? The human creators? The ones that could help take care of this situation? Why were they excluded?

Rudy narrowed his eyes at this. Something really wasn’t right...

He wondered if any of this friends had an idea. It certainly didn’t seem like it; none of them were speaking a word. They were just...utterly silent. They did give him a few flances, either to reassure him or to silently communicate with him their concern of what they were going to do. If any of them had any ideas, they were sure keeping quiet about it. But Rudy had doubts about this; it seemed more likely that they just had no ideas at all.

It would not surprise him in the least. With how stuck they were before, and just how long it took for them to even start coming to The Speculum, it seemed to make a lot of sense that his friends were just as stumped as he was. These were going to be frustrating times, he could tell. They were in for quite a ride, and the only thing he could hope for...

...is that they are able to make it out with everyone else in one piece.

But perhaps things will change once they get back to the treehouse. Maybe spending time there, trying to relax and collect their thoughts, would help them think of something. Maybe...

Well it was just wishful thinking. Rudy had his doubts that it would really change much. But still, being with his friends in the quiet and comfort of the treehouse would help him think better, as it would with his friends. Though they might not be able to think of a solution right away, they might be able to think of something to at least miminize the damage.

Perhaps they could propose something to help the zoners feel safe. Increase the security, maybe. Make it harder for Skrawl to attack them. That could at least be something so they aren’t sitting around and doing nothing to stop this guy. He had his doubts the zoners would be attempting to get them to deal with another accused restaurant owner; there are much more serious things going on right now...

There was one question that kept haunting Rudy’s mind ever since they had left the jail. It had nothing to do with that...guard’s words. It instead had to do with Skrawl himself. He hadn’t really thought about it until a short while ago, but...wasn’t The Speculum supposed to be well guarded? Skrawl had apparently tried to escape before and he kept failing. What would have been so different this time around?

...unless he had help...

This thought caused Rudy’s blood to freeze. If that truly were the case...then...

...just who helped him out?

sss

Although she had trouble believing it, although she wasn’t really sure if it was possible, Penny just couldn’t really argue with what Rudy was saying. It did make a lot of sense. And that’s what was so scary about it. If he was correct then...

“But, Rudy... do you have any idea of what you’re even suggesting?” Snap asked, his voice tinged with uncertainy but, most notably, fear. “For just one person to get out of that place is crazy enough. But two?”

“I’d have to agree with Snap here. It doesn’t seem much of a possibility.” Mint folded his arms against his chest. He looked towards the ground, his eyes furrowed deeply. “It would require a skill level that is unprecedented.” He looked back at Rudy. “I am sure that Skrawl is smart enough to figure a way out of there. But...” He motioned towards Rudy. “..it’s unlikely that more than one person could have gotten out of there.”

Snap nodded his head. “Yeah and besides, I don’t think Skrawl would attempt to take anyone out of here.”

“Not unless he needed to help.” Rudy commented. “But guys...” He fumbled with his hands nervously, his teeth clenched. “I can’t shake this feeling off. I really do feel that there is...something off about this whole time. I don’t think Skrawl could have gotten out on his own no matter how hard he tried.”

“And how would getting help from someone else benefit him?” Mint asked, raising an eyebrow. “We all know how selfish that jellybean is. And we know how determined he is. If he was really capable of getting out of that place, he would have done so by now. He’s not stupid. He’d be able to pull it off.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes. He gripped the wheels of his wheelchair tightly. “Are you saying I don’t know my own...”

Mint’s eyes widened and he quickly shook his head. He made a few quick gestures with his hands attempting to diffuse the situation before it got any worse. “N-No...not at all..” He paused for a moment and cleared his throat. Then he continued, “I was just saying that..I...” Mint’s voice trailed off, and he was unable to say anything more.

Penny gave a soft sigh to herself as she leaned back against the wall of the building. They hadn’t yet reached the treehouse. They had decided to take a small break here. A little rest never hurt anyone. Well it was supposed to brief anyway. That is, until Rudy mentioned the thing with Skrawl...

And now they’ve been stuck in this alleyway discussing this for... Penny couldn’t even remember how long it’s been. All she knew is that it’s been a while now and they were still talking about it. She herself had hardly sadi anything about it; she was just too stunned by what Rudy had suggested to even think to talk. Her mind was abuzz with many thoughts and she couldn’t help but allow them to penetrate her mind, keeping her focus, not allowing her to do anything except think about them.

Penny didn’t want to think it was possible for another prisoner to escape. The idea sent cold shivers down her spine. It made her pull her arms to herself and rub her hands along them. But even this pitiful attempt to keep herself warm was not enough to fight off the chill that was overtaking her. She clenched her teeth tightly and narrowed her eyes further. While the boys kept on tlaking with one another, she took a trip inside her own mind, and tried to think of something else that would make sense. Anything else...

No...there was nothing else that would make sense. She could try as hard as she wanted to. But nothing she thought of would make as much sense as what Rudy had proposed. Even if she hated it, even though the thought made her sick, the idea of someone helping Skrawl get out...it was the closest thing they had to figuring out just what had happened.

But if someone helped him out...

Penny felt her heart skip a beat as she realized that this other prisoner must have had terrific skills to get out of there. They were apparently far more talented than Skrawl himself. The idea of someone better than Skrawl being out there was...disturbing. The jellybean was bad enough. But now they had someone like this to worry about? Oh no...

Penny tried to think of just who would break them out. There were a number of other prisoners there. Some that she and her friends knew. Others, they were unaware of. There were a number of them that would have wanted to get back at them. Any of them could have played a role in Skrawl getting away. The very thought nearly caused her to tremble in fear.

There was really only one good thing to come from this.

At least Sandra was not involved.

Sandra was locked in one of the dimensional cells. She was kept so far away from the others and she was alone about ninety-nine percent of the time. There was very little chance of her getting out. Not with the measures of securey that they had in place to ensure that she never left that room.

But even though she was able to rule out Sandra, that didn’t change the fact that there was someone out there. Either a blast from the past or a total stranger. She had no idea which of these was worse. She had no idea which one that she should be more cautious for. The only thing that she did know is that someone else out there was with Skrawl. The two of them were together, likely working as a team.

And they all had to be prepared for what was about to come.

Penny wished there was a way to narrow down the contendors who may have been involved in the escape. But she knew there was very little chance of doing this. She’d have no idea to where to even begin with this. There were just...too many prisoners there that would be happy to get out, happy to get some payback against some citizens in the city. Any one of them could have been involved with this.

The only way to find out is probably through security cameras. But...weren’t those destroyed? That’s what she remembered hearing about by one of the zoners. Something about how the guards were trying to figure out how Skrawl escaped, but the cameras were destroyed. Though of course, the cameras weren’t the only way they could have learned and they might have known all along...

As much as Penny didn’t want to believe that the police would hide something, she could not forget what happened years ago. The police were hardly any help then. It had been the result of the Signal, but she did not doubt that some corrupt officials still existed. Maybe her friends’ suspicions were indeed correct. Maybe the police really were hiding something.

“Okay so let me get this straight.” Snap suddenly spoke up, breaking Penny from her thoughts. “You saying that there is really a chance that this creepazoid had gotten help from someone else..” He motioned with his hands, slightly raising them at his sides. “And none of you have a clue of who it could be?”

Rudy flinched at this. “Well...yeah..I mean...” He paused for a moment before making a few quick gestures as he continued to speak. “It would have increased the likelihood of him getting out. And we all know that there were plenty of criminals that would have been eager to get out.”

“Yeah and how would they have convinced Skrawl?” Snap raised an eyebrow. “You know how selfish he can be. You still hadn’t fully answered that question.”

“Well we know that he teamed up with another zoner in the past for his benefit.” Rudy pointed out, raising a finger. “Is it really much of a stretch that he would do it again?” He looked from Snap to Mint and then back at Snap. “I know it sounds crazy and I know Skrawl probably wouldn’t have wanted to do it either. But if it means getting out...”

Mint sighed and leaned against the wall next to him. “Maybe you do have a point, Rudy.” Rudy seemed to give a very faint smile when Mint finally seemed to acknowledge that he had a point. “But still...who would have helped him to start with? Who would have wanted to take such a risk just to get out?”

“Oh I’m sure a way would have been found.” Rudy narrowed his eyes and glared towards the ground. His fist formed tightly in his hand and he shook it. The frustration was practically radiating off from his body. He raised his fist up and he struck down hard. “But I just don’t know what!”

“Whoa there, Bucko!” Snap raised his hands up and moved them back and forth. “Take it easy there..”

Mint reached over and placed his hand on the panting Rudy’s shoulder. “It will be all right. We...We will think of something...” He gave the best smile that he could muster. “W-We promise.”

Penny wasn’t really sure if they could live up to that promise. She had no idea just what they were in for. A part of her wanted to believe that it will all work out and they will be able to stop Skrawl before he could do too much damage. After all, they have succeeded in the past before, halting him before he could get too far.

But she also had to remind herself of the times when this just didn’t pan out so greatly for them. There were, after all, times when they did not stop him. The worst of it all was during the artifact hunt. Skrawl had been able to outsmart them and get all the artifacts, using Mint like his litte attack dog for a time. Under Skrawl’s command, Mint had wreaked havoc all across ChalkZone. To this day, she still shuddered to think just what one little boy had been capable of doing. The fact that Mint had changed sides and helped to repair the damage did little to push out the horrible, chilling thoughts that came to her mind.

She also could not forget how they had nearly lost to Skrawl when he had partnered up with Craniac 4. She could not believe that they had gotten so close... She recalled how shaken she felt when she sat down and really thought about the implications that this had. And if Skrawl had paired up with someone else...

“I sure hope he hasn’t joined up with that Blakorn fellow.” Snap shuddered at the memory. “He was quite the firecracker, that one.”

Mint flinched. “Don’t remind me.”

Rudy looked uncomfortable for a moment. Then he said, “I’m more worried about Tlano. She was not exactly happy when we sent her to jail, either.” His eyes widened, as though recalling how Tlano had nearly ripped out his eyes. “I’ll never forget...”

Penny remained quiet as she looked at her friends sympathetically. She would have loved to say that things were entirely at peace after Sandra was locked up. But that was not the case. In addition to the restaurant issue, over the years, even before Snap’s framing, they ran into a bunch of other villains and villainesses that they had to lock away. Most of them didn’t get far and didn’t cause much damage. Heck, some caused no damage at all as they were haulted before they could even get that far.

But a small handful, like the two that they had just mentioned, were far worse. They didn’t exactly reach the same levels as Skrawl or Sandra did. But gawd did they come so close...

Blakorn was similar to Skrawl in that he wanted to take over ChalkZone. But he was slightly smarter about the whole thing and worked mostly behind the scenes. Manipulating zoners, influencing them with his powers, gaining something akin to political ground... It was only when his less than admirable traits, such as drug dealing and underground violence, came to light that he was eventually stopped.

Then there was Tlano, who had been obsessed with ‘improving’ zoners. She worked as a nurse in the hospital. Behind the scenes, she would study zoner DNA and at first, this seemed fine...until she started taking patients away to toy with them, try to make them better. When she was confronted, her first act was to try to blind Rudy. If Mint hadn’t reacted when he did...

One thing could be said about both of them:

They both served as a reminder that some nasty villains will always exist, and that they should never turn their backs on them.

Penny struggled to not allow herself to shiver too much. She didn’t want to worry her friends. She wanted them all to focus on the task at hand. They still needed to figure out just what they were going to do. They needed to figure out the next course of action, and fast. Before it was...

“Oh hey look...” Snap called out. He motioned his hand towards one direction. “Maybe he could help us?”

Penny turned her head, along with the others, to see what Snap was pointing to. It didn’t take her long to recognize who it was. “Snap, I’m not entirely sure if he could help us.”

“Yeah. I mean, he works at a...different jail.” Mint had hesitated slightly when he spoke. And for good reason, too. “He wouldn’t really know what was going on at the Speculum.”

“It wouldn’t hurt to try, though.” Snap shrugged his shoulders. “He might have heard at least something. And he is a warden. He has the right rank to..”

“That’s not the way it works, Snap.” Rudy commented, his eyes narrowing slightly. “At least...I don’t think that’s how it would work...”

Penny raised her hand up as she leaned slightly towards her friends. “And besides, Snap, we don’t have much of a reason to think that Okoth will help us. I still remember how reluctant he was to help us before. That warden had did what he could to make it hard to let us get you in for a brain scan. I doubt he...”

Snap nodded his head in understanding. “Yeah, I understand. But this situation is different.” Snap motioned his hands out towards his friends in determination. “Surely he’d be more willing to cooperate now...”

That was a very real possibility, Penny had to admit. Maybe Okoth would be more willing to listen to them if the fate of ChalkZone was at stake. Before, it had been the life of only one zoner, their best friend, that was in the most immediate danger. At the time, they were unaware of Sandra hunting zoners. In fact, no one really knew about this. So as far as Okoth was concerned, it was only Snap whose life hung in the balance. And almost no one cared about Snap’s life at that point.

But still, Okoth was a pretty strict warden. Even if they didn’t see it for themselves, Snap had stories to tell from when he was trapped in that guy’s prison. And nothing any of them heard suggested that he would be willing to divulge such information.

But they could at least try. What did they have to lose? And besides, there was a chance that he could give away some rather...interesting information that they could use. Any amount of information would work at this point. Just as long as they provided at least a slight hint of what...

“Hey..what are you guys doing here...?”

Penny’s eyes widened at this voice. She could see her friends flinching. She could see Snap’s eyes suddenly bulge in fear. None of them could ever forget that voice. Penny found her hands naturally curling inward, forming a fist. After a bit of silence, they all managed to turn their heads over.

And of course, there, standing not far from them, was a rather...familiar stick figure zoner. One that they all, especially Snap, had engrained into their skulls.

It was Taima.

“Wh-What.. What do you want..?” Snap was the first one to speak, much to everyone’s surprise. The blue and white zoner had immediately huddled close to Rudy’s side for comfort, his body pressing up against the cold metal of the teenager’s wheelchair.

Taima flinched visibly at this reaction, his face contorting into regret. He looked away from Snap, his eyelids lowered and focusing on nothing. He began to fumble with his hands a little. “I just..saw you guys from a distance and you looked so..confused and worried about something. I just...” He looked at the group as a hole, raising his head up slightly. He clenched his teeth for a few seconds, giving off a small, shaky breath. “...I was just curious...”

Penny, along with Rudy and Mint, didn’t stop glaring at the stick figure zoner. They didn’t really attempt to say anything to him. Not just yet. None of them had truly recovered from what Taima had done to their friend. None of them, especially not Snap, had truly forgiven him. The mere sight of him was enough to trigger all those unwanted memories.

The only thing that prevented them from being more hostile towards him was the fact that Taima really did feel sorry for what he did and he did strive to be a better person. He hadn’t attempted to cause anymore trouble, and it wasn’t like he tried to pester Snap all that much. But still, even the kindness that he displayed was not enough to make them all that comfortable around him.

Still, it didn’t really hurt to tell Taima what they were doing. After all, maybe he could help. True the idea of getting help from someone who had hurt their best friend was not something that she or her friends enjoyed. But when it came to ChalkZone’s safety, information from anyone was important.

Even if it came from someone like Taima.

After the awkward silence lasted for a while, Penny decided to speak up. After all, someone had to get the ball rolling, right?

“We are trying to figure what to do about Skrawl.” Penny stated. Short and to the point. It was more than enough to allow Taima to realize just what was going on.

His eyes widening, the stick figure whispered, “You mean he’s...out?”

This ignorant reaction did not go over well amongst the group of friends. Almost immediately, their bodies tensed up, their eyes narrowing, including Snap. They didn’t say anything right away, but their body language and their facial expressions were clearly enough to tell Taima that he should consider backing off pretty soon.

“How could you not know?” Came Snap’s shaky voice. “I-It’s all over the news!”

“Well sorry but I was busy and...” Taima fidgeted nervously, rubbing his arm, clenching his teeth. He appeared to be struggling with what to say next. This only made him look even guiltier, causing everyone’s eyes to narrow further. “I was out of town and...”

“Doing what?” Mint cut him off. His arms folded tightly against himself. “Just what were you doing that was taking you so long?”

“I was visiting my sister’s grave...”

Almost immediately, all pretense of aggression dropped. Their frowns vanished, along with their narrowed eyes and snarls. Almost in unison, they were all struck with a strong, sharp pang in their stomachs. They looked at each other nervously, and then stared back at Taima. The shame that they were feeling inside made itself quite known on their faces. Even when they attempted to hide it, it was no use.

Penny struggled to cope with the sting that rose up inside of her chest. She placed her hand there and rubbed it. Even that wasn’t good enough to stop the sensation from clawing its way up inside of her. She knew, from their guilty expressions alone, that Rudy, Snap, and Mint were also feeling a similar way.

Penny couldn’t believe that she hadn’t taken the late Galena into consideration. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten that the grave site she was in was located far outside of town. She couldn’t believe that she had forgotten just how deeply affected Taima was by all of this. She knew how the other zoners were still recovering, so how did she and her friends forget this?

She realized it wasn’t so much that they forgot; it was that their anger had pushed the memory down momentarily. Seeing Taima so suddenly, without warning, triggered terrible memories and that caused them to momentarily not realize just why Taima might be unaware of Skrawl’s break out. Especially considering the fact that he was no longer very social nowadays. Most zoners didn’t like him after his involvement with the mob that nearly lynched Snap, or when he abused Snap when he was locked up with him.

“I’m...I’m sorry about that...” Mint spoke up. His voice had grown so soft and quiet. “I didn’t..”

Taima raised his hand up, silencing him. “It is okay. You didn’t know.” Taima gave a short pause, exchanging glances with the four friends. The silence that started to creep along them was tense and uncomfortable. Thankfully Taima didn’t allow it to say quiet for too long. “So what did you figure out for Skrawl?”

It did feel rather strange talking with Taima. They hadn’t done this in a long time. They usually just avoided him, or he avoided them. Now here they were, starting a serious discussion to him related to Skrawl. None of them could have seen something like this coming.

Penny was amazed when he heard Snap start talking. Out of all of them, she would have thought that Snap would be the least likely to speak to Taima after what he did to him. This was nothing short of amazing and courageous.

“...you wouldn’t have happened to notice anything..strange with the police, have you, Taima...?”

This question cause Taima to blink several times. He stared over at Snap. He did take a step back when he saw how uncomfortable his staring was making Snap. Yet he still could not look away, as though too confused to do anything. “What do you mean...?”

“Well...” Snap hesitated. He struggled to keep speaking. Yet only a bit of gibberish would come out of his mouth. Poor Snap. He must be a lot more nervous than any of them initially thought.

Rudy took over. “We have a feeling that the police are keeping something from us.”

Taima tilted his head to one side. “Why in the world would they do something like that?”

“We don’t know.” Mint shrugged his shoulders. “Other than to stop a potential riot of course. But to keep it from us...” He motioned to himself. “It reminds us so much of what happened when...” His voice trailed off as he glanced over at Snap. No words needed to be spoken to let everyone know just what was running through his mind.

Penny took a few steps towards Taima. Motioning towards Rudy, she stated, “And Rudy here believes that at least two prisoners escaped.” Noticing Taima’s eyes go wide and how loud he gasped, Penny narrowed her eyes, complimenting the severity of the situation. “We need to figure out as much information about this breakout as possible.”

“Did you try...” Taima started to say.

“Yes, we did.” Snap spat angrily. Taima took a sharp step back at this. Snap did not seem to notice as his gaze was towards the ground. “The creepazoid chased us out.”

“He was...” Rudy paused for a moment. He licked his lips slowly. “...not very cooperative.”

Penny looked at Rudy sadly. Poor guy... He must still be remembering what Bell had said to him. She wanted to say something to him, anything, to help him feel better. But at the moment, no words would come to her mind. At least Snap and Mint were able to comfort him.

Penny nodded in Taima’s direction when she noticed the expression in his eyes and face. “Even knowing that this information could help save ChalkZone faster, he still wouldn’t help us.”

“Gee...that’s tough...” Taima rubbed the back of his head. “I wish I could have...” Suddenly he gave pause, his eyes widening. “Wait...I think I do know something.”

In an instant, everyone’s eyes were on him. No words were spoken. Only eager yet cautious glances were aimed towards the zoner. They waited for him to continue.

“I’m not really sure if this will help you all any..but..” Taima rubbed his chin thoughtfully, his eyes furrowing deeply as though in deep thought. “I did see something strange not too long ago. I’m not sure if it’s anything related to what you want though.”

“Can you tell us anyway?” Rudy asked. “Anything could help, even if it seems unrelated.”

Taima gritted his teeth. “Well..I did see some zoners gathered around that one new restaurant... Ha...something...”

“Haney’s Diner?” Penny inquired. Taima nodded his head at this. Immediately, Penny’s eys furrowed. She could feel a pang in her chest. Something told her she was not going to like what she was about to hear next. But regardless, she still spoke. “What about Haney’s Diner..?” Her friends stared at Taima along with her, waiting for a response.

“Well...you see...”

That was when they heard the sirens.

sss

Snap could feel his heart pounding in his chest. He could feel the blood sweeping through, making his chest feel like it was going to swell up in flames. His mouth was open as he struggled to keep himself breathing. He could feel his tongue flapping against his face. He ignored it completely as he kept on running.

He did feel bad about going out so far ahead of his friends. Especially Rudy. He could hear him panting far behind him as he struggled to keep up with him. He could hear his friends’ feet pounding the ground as they tried to reach him. Snap wanted to slow down so badly and let them catch up. Yet he was driven to just keep on running. Nothing was going to stop him.

That news that Taima had delivered...it couldn’t be true, could it? There was just no way that... But the sirens that they heard... He didn’t fake hearing them. And he knew the direction that they were going on. There was really no way to explain this except...

...except if something really did happen at Haney’s Diner...

Snap’s gut twisted into knots. He just had to get there quickly, before something insane happened. He and his friends had to arrive as quickly as possible before those zoners could od anything. They were already having enough trouble as it is. They did not need any freelancing zoners causing problems.

Snap had recently visited Haney’s Diner. He would admit, he was quite nervous at first. He wasn’t really sure what to expect with that place. He had half expected to see Sandra coming out from a hiding spot for some reason, and he had no idea why. He was just a nervous wreck. If he were attached to a lie detector, he would have caused it to explode.

And when Haney had brought out some food for him, he recalled how hard it was for him to even eat any of the stuff at first. It looked appetizing yes. He could feel his mouth dripping with saliva. He must have looked like such a darn fool, staring at food like that. And when he could not take it any longer, he grabbed a fork and began to eat it.

And it was delicious. Probably some of the best food that he has had. Haney had even joined him with a meal of his own. They chatted for a while, got to know each other a little better. Snap had forgotten about his fears and worries soon after. He did not have any regrets in going into that diner.

Haney was not really a bad person after all. He had been arrogant before, but rightfully so after he was so wrongly accused before. He was shy and soft-spoken when they initially met him. But again, those other zoners didn’t exactly make the whole thing easy for him. Snap couldn’t help but feel sorry for the little guy. At least he was able to see through to the real him. Haney was...quite a funny guy actually.

But it would seem that not everyone felt the same about Haney as he did..

He soon could hear some screaming in the distance. Snap’s eyes bulged as he pushed himself to go faster. Every time he heard a cry, every time he heard a shout, he struggled to move quicker and quicker. His narrowed eyes focused on what was in front of him. They shifted around, looking for the tiniest detail. And when they saw a bit of shadow, Snap immediately turned to follow it.

Snap stopped in his tracks, staring out ahead with wide, horrified eyes. He did not notice the breeze behind him when his friends nearly ran past where he stood. Nor did he hear their collective gasps join in with his own as they stared out at what was before them.

Deep in this alleyway, they could see a large group of zoners congretated at one spot. There were two types of zoners that they could see right away. There were obviously citizens of all different types. Some were bakers, others farmers, others store clerks, and whatever else that you could think of. Joining with them, or rather, fighting against them, were some cops. They were attempting to get the citizens away from something around the middle. It was difficult to tell what it was at first, but there was no mistaking that loud whimpering sound.

“Everyone just back away!”

“Give him some room!”

The citizens showed no interest in listening. They growled in response. Some lashed out at the officers. Others made obscene gestures. Others tried to threaten them to move aside.

“Back off! He’s ours!”

Snap and his friends stared in shock, unable to move or breathe. They couldn’t even try to talk. The only thing that would come out of their mouths was heavy gasping, each one tinged in shock. Seeing the zoners act this way brought back horrific memories of the past. Back when the zoners had been afflicted by the Signal...

Snap tried to shake off the memories as he focused on the center of the attacking and struggling zoners. He could see something moving there, trying to get away. Something quite tall and long and...

“Haney!” Snap shouted in horror, his fears having been confirmed. Without thinking, he rushed over towards the crowd. “Back off! Leave him alone!”

“Snap! Wait!” Penny shouted.

“Get back here!” Rudy demanded. “You’re going to get yourself hurt!

Mint lunged forward and attempted to grab onto the fleeing zoner. “Don’t take another step!” His attempt to grab onto Snap failed miserably, and he ended up falling into the ground. “Snap!”

The blue and white zoner, though feeling guilty, ignored the words of his friends as he rushed towards the crowd. Despite his fear, he knew he couldn’t allow the zoners to keep hurting another innocent. He knew what it felt like to be unfairly targeted like this. He would be damned if he allowed it to happen to someone else.

When he got close enough, he lowered his head and he rammed himself against one of the zoners. He could hear them grunt as they were pushed back. However, they did not remain started for long. Before he know it, he felt something strike him and he was flung back.

“Back off, shrimp!” The attacker shouted. “You are not our target! Now leave!”

Snap laid on his back and he gave a soft grunt as he pushed himself up. He rubbed the side of his face and glared over at the zoner who pushed him. He could not see them for very long; they had already disappeared into the crowd. He growled softly as he pushed himself up.

He suddenly felt an arm grabbing onto him. He looked up and he could see that it was Mint. The teenager tightened his grip on him and then pulled him up to his feet. He looked at him up and down, his eyes filled with great concern. Rudy wheeled in and Penny rushed over soon after.

“Are you okay, Snap?!” Rudy shouted as his wheelchair skidded along the ground from how fast he was moving.

Snap swallowed hard and he nodded his head. “Yeah..I’m fine..” He turned and glared over at the crowd. “You think that I am going to let that creepazoid get the better of..”

“Snap, wait...” Mint spoke up, tightening his grip on him. “I don’t think you should try that again. We don’t want you getting hurt.”

“Yeah, Snap. Take it easy.” Rudy agreed.

Snap felt conflicted at this. On the one hand, he wanted to just say ‘fuck it’ and rush in there and stop the zoners. He could hear Haney continue to cry out as the officers tried to get the citizens off of him. Each scream caused his heart to tighten and he could feel his body shaking.

And yet, he knew his friends were right. He couldn’t just rush in there and try to force the zoners away. There were just too many of them. He risked hurting himself in the process. He should have thought better than to do something so brash. He would not be able to do anything to help Haney if he got himself a few broken bones from doing something stupid.

But they still had to do something. He stared out ahead, his eyes furrowing, his gut twisting, his teeth clenching. He didn’t know how much longer he could handle this. He couldn’t even tell how badly Haney was hurt. He looked over at his friends, giving them a silent plea to do something.

And they did.

Penny glared out at the zoners, fighting one hand into a fist while the other pulled out a piece of magic chalk. She turned her head to Mint and gave him a single nod. Mint returned it and he pulled out magic halk of his own. Snap and Rudy looked on as their friends silently approached the crowd.

sss

“Are you sure about this?” Skrawl asked as he raised his hand up in gesture. “I’m not entirely sure if this is the...smartest plan I have heard of.”

Sandra chortled at this. Skrawl couldn’t help but growl. “Of course it isn’t. That is why they would not expect it.” She tilted her head to one side, staring off at Skrawl with her blood red eyes. “You want to keep the element of surprise, don’t you?”

“Yes, and that’s why we shouldn’t do this! Why don’t you listen?! This plan is going to blow our cover!” Skrawl curled his claws inward, his large teeth gnashing together. “Why can’t you just...”

Sandra raised her hand up. Skrawl stopped himself and he glared at her in suspicion. “Do not fret, dear Skrawl. Everything will work out in the end...” She turned herself around and started to walk away. Her tail wished as her hand raised up, her head tilting to the other side. “You will see.”

Skrawl shook his head, struggling not to do anything that he would soon regret. He watched as the dragon zoner stood a few feet away from him, her head tilting upward as if going into deep thought. Not the first time she had done this. He did question her about it, but she never did give a straight answer. He quickly gave up trying to get her to talk.

His mind ran abuzz with several thought as he recalled what she had told him earlier, about her plan. It seemed....pretty crazy. No, very much crazy. Even he would never have done something like this, and he had taken a few risks in the past himself. He didn’t think Sandra would be dumb enough to do something like this. It was just asking for trouble. There was no way that they were going to be able to achieve their goals at this rate.

But Sandra was utterly determined to go through with what she had in mind. She insisted that things would work out better if they just go with what she said. Skrawl was not entirely sure if he could really believe her. A part of him had to question her sanity. She had been locked away for too long, hasn’t she...?

But then..he did have to remind himself of what she had been able to accomplish before. She wasn’t just some insane dragon zoner. She was the zoner that had gotten away with far more than he himself could ever hope to dream of. She had taken out several zoners while under the guise of a restaurant, and no one suspected a thing. She had influenced many zoners with a machine, and still no one realized what was going on. And most importantly, she had nearly taken care of these brats that had gotten in his way for far too long.

Skrawl couldn’t help but smile at the memory of what Sandra informed her. He relished in hearing about how she had broken Rudy’s neck, ripped out Penny’s throat, tore apart Snap’s stomach... He wished that she had done worse to Mint, though. A dislocated jaw didn’t sound like much. Though at least she did cause him other pain, like she did with the others. A single zoner did all of that.

That was why he had agreed with work with her. It wasn’t only because they shared the same goals. It was because she was quite capable. More so than that idiotic Craniac 4 that he had the displeasure of having to work with years ago. No, Sandra made a much better partner.

His smile faded as he returned into deep thought. He still was not sure of this plan. He thought that something more subtle would be more affective. Then again, Sandra did make it clear that she cared not what the zoners thought of her anymore. And she did have a lot of pent of rage, he could tell. Even more than he himself did. That lone made her quite uneasy to be around. Despite the partnership, he couldn’t help but feel nervous and he had to fight to keep himself from backing away.

The only thing that was keeping him here, really, was his own desire for revenge. He had been wanting to pick a bone with these guys for a long time. And now, with Sandra’s help, he was finally getting that chance. He..

“Say Skrawl...”

The jellybean turned his head and he could see the blue dragon zoner walking back towards him. She was giving him a knowing expression, which caused him to shift his mismatched eyes from side to side. Even though his collar had ben removed and he could defend himself, he could not bring himself to risk even a defensive stance.

“Yes?” Skrawl asked carefully, doing his best to keep his voice low. “What do you want?” He did not know yet what she was fully capable of.

Sandra gave a small smirk. “Didn’t you say you had some large dog named Fido somewhere?”

Skrawl blinked his eyes a few times. Why was she curious about that? What did she think Fido was going to.... Suddenly it dawned on him. His eyes widened and he took a small step back. “Are you going to...?”

Sandra sneered. “Take me to him.”


	9. A Little Surprise

Speak your mind. Like I care. I can see your lips moving. I've just learned not to hear. Don't waste your time!  
-Made Of Stone, Evanescence

sss

Ah yes, this place. How could anyone forget about this place? Standing up so tall on this large cactus. The structure being made of some incredibly hard stone. It easily towered over everything in the desert, and could make one hell of a maximum security prison. Sure it would need some sprucing up and some additional cells, but all in all, it would work just fine.

Many would easily recognize this place. It was quite hard to miss, especially what happened in here years ago. It was so well known, in fact, that some had even tried to turn it into a tour. Kind of strange, but then some people were really into quite strange things.

...so why did Sandra want to come here?

Skrawl furrowed his eyes as they walked along the platform at the top of the cactus. The entrance wasn’t too far away. They were getting quite close. Sandra was walking in front of him, looking rather eager to get inside.

But why, he wasn’t really sure. This wasn’t exactly the best spot for a hideout. At least, not anymore. Most zoners know about this place now, as did this rotten humans. It was true that Mint was not aorund at the time, so there were no associations of him with this place. But he was still beaten by Rudy and Penny.

Especially Penny...

That little girl had tricked him here. She had made him into a laughing stock with how easily swayed he was by her. He was supposed to be a genius. He should have been able to see right through what she was doing. And yet his desire to get back at Rudy prevented him from seeing the trap that was ever so obvious right before him. And because of that, he had lost that chance at gaining control over ChalkZone. He had hoped that Mint would have been different, but...

“You are certain Fido is still here?” Sandra paused her walking. She turned her head and peered over her shoulder and stared back at Skrawl. “You aren’t tryign to trick me?”

Skrawl blinked at this. “Why would I be trying to trick you?” He didn’t really get why Sandra even thought that. Was she really that paranoid? Or was she just testing him? “You haven’t done anything yet to make me want to do that?”

Sandra smiled at this and gave a chuckle. “No, I suppose not. It’s just that...” She sighed as she turned her head over towards the building. “I guess I was expecting to see that large dog outside here. Somewhere.” Her tail swished quickly once before slowing down. “You do let him out once in a while, don’t you?”

Skrawl shrugged his shoulders. “I haven’t come here in a long time. I just let Fido take over the place.”

Sandra narrowed her eyes. “You didn’t tell me that he was dead...”

“I didn’t say that he was.” Skrawl said quickly, waving a hand out in front of him. “I was just saying that he is inside. Fido is smart. He can take care of himself.”

“I see...” Sandra looked back out at the building. She tilted her head back and looked at it up and down, examining it. “I take it there’s some places to get outside here? And I also take it you have a neverending food supply? Something to keep that thing from keeling over?” She looked over at Skrawl, giving him a sideways glance. “I should hope so. I’d hate to have to have traveled all the way here for nothing...”

Skrawl flinched at this. He still had no idea why Sandra really wanted Fido. But it was highly doubtful that he would get an answer from her if he tried asking her again. So he just made a few gestures with his hand and said, “I’m sure we will find him.”

“Okay then. Let’s head on inside.”

Skrawl paused and watched as Sandra headed towards the large doors that made up the entrance of the building. He didn’t follow her right away. He instead just stared at her as his mind became alive with several, rapidly moving thoughts. He struggled to try to make sense of this situation, but he couldn’t really think of anything. The lack of knowledge from Sandra certainly didn’t help things.

Just why did she want his dog so badly? He had tried to ask her about that several times. Yet she still remained quiet on the subject. It was though she wanted to keep it a secret from everyone to ensure maximum security or whatever.

Which was fine and all...but if they were going to work as a team, didn’t he deserve to know just what was going on...? It didn’t really seem all that fair, or make a whole lot of sense, to just recruit him, but then deliberately keep him in the dark on so many things. He knew that the best kind of teamwork is the kind where all parties participate and show their ideas. Sandra mentioned her idea, but she had not yet explained it.

He was quite horrified when she suggested going to Fido, but that was largely based on an idea that...he didn’t really know if she would do or not. Surely, she wouldn’t be dumb enough to do...that thing that he had in his mind. No, that was just way to risky.

But if that isn’t what she had in mind, then....what was...?

Skrawl didn’t waste anymore time. Upon seeing Sandra disappear into the castle, he immediately dashed towards her as quickly as he could without tripping over himself. It took him just a couple of seconds to reach the door. Inside, he could see that Sandra was still walking forward, her head turning left and right as she looked around. Skrawl hesitated for just a second, and then he followed her inside.

It did feel rather strange...being in this place for the first time in years. Skrawl looked around as well, noting just how little had changed in here. It was almost just as he had left it. He could even see that fake trap that Penny had utilized for that act she put on for Rudy and Snap. He could still see that large carton of milk and not far away, he could see something dark and colorful and...

Penny’s Chalk Queen clothing. Upon seeing this, Skrawl’s blood immediately heated up. He clenched his fists tightly and let out a low growl through his clenched teeth. Penny....that brat.. He still needed to get back at her somehow. He made a promise, and he was going to keep it.

“Hmm...I take it this is those creators’ handiwork?” Sandra commented. She had stopped by Penny’s old outfit and she peered down at it. She lowered herself down to get a better look. She took a sniff. “Yes...this does smell like that girl...”

“Penny drew that, yes.” Skrawl said as he took a few steps towards the hunched Sandra. “She had drawn it to trick Rudy...and me.”

At this, the blue dragon zoner lifted her head and stared at him, raising an eyebrow. “Oh really now?”

Skrawl nodded his head. He struggled not to allow his anger get the better of him. But even the act of speaking in a somewhat calm way took a lot of energy from him. He was surprised that he didn’t end up tripping over his own words or sound too shaky or anything. “It had happened a few years ago. I had overheart Penny talking about how Rudy promised to help her but left anyway and I decided to use that to bring her to my side and...”

“Wait wait...hold on...” Sandra raised her hand up. Her ears raised up quickly in interest. “You telling me that...you witnessed Rudy breaking a promise?”

Skrawl blinked a few times. He had no idea why Sandra was so interested in this minor detail. Nonetheless, he nodded his head slowly. “Yes, Sandra. I did. I saw him run off when Penny was attempting to get him to help.” Skrawl raised his hand up in gesture. “The boy was more interested in stopping me than helping his best friend. Though in some way, I can’t blame him.” He gave a dark smile. “I can be quite terrifying...”

“I see...” Sandra said calmly. There was something rather...off about her tone. She didn’t say anything more for a few seconds. Then she turned her head away and looked towards the ground. Her red eyes narrowed slowly. “That little promise breaker...”

Skrawl was surprised by how much venom had been in that utterence. He had thought about asking her what was up, but he decided it was best no to say anything. With how angry she sounded, the last thing he wanted was to make her made at him. He was not interested in trying to make another enemy.

The silence that followed was rather awkward. Skrawl sucked on his lip a little, licking it slowly. He had tried to think of something to say to break the silence, but so far, nothing came to mind. He wasn’t really entirely sure why, either. He was Skrawl after all. He should be able to think of something to get the ball rolling. After all, if they were going to have their revenge against these children, they were going to need to take action.

But there was just something about Sandra’s present mood that...made him remain silent. He couldn’t bring himself to talk to her right now. A part of him kept warning him it was a bad idea. And based on what he did know of her, that did seem like sound advice.

So the jellybean remained where he stood, his mismatched eyes watching Sandra in confusion and caution. The blue dragon walked around the place. It was almost as though she had forgotten about Fido and now had her full attention on the clothing at her feet. Her eyes slowly narrowing was uncomfortable even for Skrawl himself to see. He could practically hear her mind’s gears turning rapidly, and he couldn’t help but wonder just what she was thinking.

sss

Ah...so this is where it happened, eh? This was where that wretched Rudy Tabootie betrayed his best friend. This was where he had become a promise breaker and had gotten away with it. This is where it all began. She had wondered why it felt so strange in here.

She could not really blame Skrawl for ‘allowing’ Rudy to live. It wasn’t that he had that planned, she was certain. He would have gotten him if it weren’t for Penny foolishly defending her friend after how he betrayed her. In some ways, she felt a little sorry for Penny. She had allowed her own naivity get in the way of more proper judgment, and she couldn’t help but overlook Rudy’s promise breaking in favor of recalling how good of a friend he was to her before and sticking by his side.

Some may call this a noble trait. Some may even admire it. But Sandra could see right through it. The only thing admirable about it was just how stupid it was. Those who break promises do not deserve second chances. They had their one chance at being a good citizen, and they blow it on something that they should have been able to keep.

To those who say that ‘sometimes you just have to break a promise’, she would go ‘bah’ to them. It didn’t really matter what came up; there was always a way to keep a promise. Those who say such blasphamous things are obviously too lazy and selfish to work around another way and ensuring the promise could still be kept.

That is what she did with Snap, after all. She could have stopped once she realized it was Snap and just ask him what had gone on. But that would have been the morally wrong thing to do. No, since she made the promise, she had to go through with it. She hated doing it at first, and even when she was able to calm herself, she still sometimes had some bouts of guilt. But she was still doing the right thing and she would have allowed Snap to resume his normal life after he apologized to her.

Instead, he turned on her. They all did. They... They...

Sandra closed her eyes and gritted her teeth. For several seconds, she just let out several low hisses and growls, unable to stop herself. She could feel her body trembling, her thoughts burning into her brain. Memories of how Snap turned against her, daring to side with a promise breaker, how everyone chose the promise breaker over her... It was just too much for her to bear.

Skrawl’s voice cut through the air, tearing her from her thoughts. “Are you all right, Sandra?” His voice showed no real concern for her, only confusion. “Did something...?”

“No, no..I’m fine.” Sandra waved her hand dismissively. “I’m fine...”

A bit of a lie, but a necessary one. She didn’t really want Skrawl peering into too much of what she had planned. She wanted to keep him in the dark for now. Soon, everything will make sense to that jellybean. She did, after all, have a plan for him as well. And in the end, it will ensure that she was able to get even with those disgusting heathens.

Originally, she had only intended on going after Snap and Rudy. They were the ones who wronged her the most. They were the biggest monsters she had ever encountered. Especially that darn Rudy. But lately her mind had shifted. And, recalling what all of ChalkZone City had done, she had decided that they all deserved to be punished. She had a much bigger target now.

All of ChalkZone City was going to pay... and she was going to stand there and watch the show. She smirked. She could just see it now.

However, she couldn’t allow herself to be too drawn into these thoughts right now. She still had some things left to do before she could go forth with her plan. She would indeed take care of all of them eventually. But first...time to make some plans.

Swiveling her head over to Skrawl, she barked, “So where is that dog of yours?”

The jellybean was a little startled at first, as though not expecting her to yell so suddenly. She couldn’t help but smirk in satisfaction. It was amazing how much a tiny tumor could affect someone. Indeed, she had done this to Skrawl to try to alter his behavior a little. Make him slightly less violent, just to ensure that he would be less likely to betray her. She didn’t really do much damage of course, and it would take a trained eye to notice his altered behavior.

Though...she had a feeling that Rudy and his little friends would notice. After all, they did interact so much with the jellybean. It was a good thing that she had no intention on sending Skrawl out to do anything. Otherwise, her cover might have been blown. And she couldn’t have that.

At least...not yet. First, she needed that dog. She had special plans for that dog. Yes... She knew exactly what she was going to do. She had a feeling that Skrawl would protest to the idea, which was why she refused to tell him. However, despite what he may think, Sandra knew that this was the first plan to set everything into motion. After all, there was no greater weapon than fear, right? And the zoners would surely be struck by so much fear if they had a little ‘visit’ from Fido, wouldn’t they...?

She gritted her teeth. They weren’t going to get anywhere just standing around here. She raised her ears up for a moment to try to see if she can hear anything regarding that canine. When she did not, she turned her head to face Skrawl once more. She swung her head to the side and gave a simple command.

“Go find that stupid dog.”

Skrawl did not hesitate, much to her pleasure. She watched as Skrawl, who was so eager for revenge himself, immediately began to look around for the dog. For the time being, he didn’t seem to mind taking an order from her. Probably because he felt he was going to be in charge soon after everything was settled. Oh how wrong he was going to be...

Sandra didn’t bother saying another word and she walked over to what appeared to be a large throne. This would be a good place to rest while she waited for Skrawl to locate that dog. Provided he was still here and still alive that is. She sure hoped that Fido was still alive, otherwise she... Well, she suposed she could always find another way of doing what she wanted. It would just be easier going through it this way rather than having to locate another beast to do her bidding for her.

Upon reading the throne, she turned herself around and sat in it. She grunted, her tail being pushed harshly against, the chair itself so small. A lot smaller than it looked. Sandra attempted to get herself up, but she ended up a little stuck. She grabbed the arms of the throne and pushed herself upwards. She managed to dislodge herself, but not without nearly toppling the throne. At least it did not fall over. Without being able to sit down, she opted to just set herself on the ground, her tail curving inward against her body and her head lowering. She folded her arms a little, kind of like a bird, and just waited there.

She wasn’t really sure how long it would take Skrawl to find Fido. This place seemed rather large. Plenty of room. Especially if it were to be turned into a jail of sorts.

And that’s exactly what she hoped to use it for at some point. For now, this was not where they were going to be staying. No, that toothy mouth structure near the jail, the one that looked so ridiculously ‘evil’ in a rather cliche way, that’s where they would be staying for a part of their operations. But this place will not be neglected. No...she had big plans for this place. Big plans indeed.

She once more found her thoughts turning to Rudy. It was not something she really enjoyed. After all, Rudy did cross the line before, and the very thought of him was enough to make her bitter. But...she couldn’t help but be at least a little bit curious. Just...what was going on with him right now anyway?

She had broken his neck, which she had thought for sure was a death sentence. But aparently he was still alive, somehow. What kind of life was he leading? Did she leave any kind of permanent mark on him? If so, she was quite curious to see it. She would love to find out what kind of impact she had on the little brats life. She chortled to herself. Did he even remember her?

She will find out soon enough.

When a while passed by and still no sign of Skrawl or Fido, Sandra lifted her head up and let out a low, long growl. While she did have plenty of time to get everything started, she would rather not delay things longer than they needed to be. She hoped that Skrawl had found Fido already. She really didn’t want to have to be the one to look. She may not be as... ‘gentle’ with Fido was Skrawl would be.

Her ears raised up when she started to hear footsteps. Loud, echoing footsteps. Something large and heavy was coming down from somewhere. From her angle, she couldn’t tell where it was exactly. But the sound was indeed getting louder, making it rather obvious whover it was, they were heading straight to her. She already knew who it could be.

And when she saw the large shadows form, one of them appearing dog-like and the other having a lot of antennas, this all but confirmed her suspicions.

“Looks like you found him. Congratulations....” Sandra said with a broad smile. She clasped her hands together as she stared intently at the beast. She immediately froze upon seeing something that hadn’t been informed to he earlier. “He is....quite small.” She said in a disappionted voice.

Skrawl raised an eyebrow. “Well he is a dog. What did you expect?” Skrawl looked down at the brown canine with jagged sharp teeth. He patted him on the head a few times. “Besides, he’s tougher than he looks. And he is still big for a dog.”

“Well I do give him props for staying so healthy-looking for so long.” Sandra didn’t want to bother figuring out how the dog was still so healthy after...how long did Skrawl say it’s been? Years? It didn’t really matter at this point, anyway. “But as much as I hate to admit it...” Sandra furrowed her eyes deeply. “This will never do.”

At this, Fido lowered his ears a little and gave a small growly whine. Skrawl folded his arms together and glared at her. Sandra paid no attention to these expressions. It wasn’t like she was deliberately insulting them or anything; she merely spoke the truth.

“Sorry Fido isn’t some forty foot giant!” Skrawl snapped at her, raising a hand into the air. Sandra merely watched him with a calm demeanor while he began to rant off a little. “I searched everywhere for him and now you won’t even take him?! I just..what in the world were you expecting? I never said I had a giant dog!” Fido growled as though in agreement.

Sandra sighed softly. She placed her hand against her snout. “Yeah..you are right about that. I was never really clear.” She moved her hand along her snout until it dropped off to the side. She gave a small sigh as she looked at Fido once more. “Well...he does look fierce enough...”

Skrawl gave a small, slightly twisted smirk. “He could tear apart any zoner he comes across! And he is strong enough to break into many buildings if you needed something to be stolen. He’s loyal and...”

Sandra raised her hand, silencing him. “Okay, I get it. No need to advertise your puppy to me.” She began to wonder if putting the tumor in him was a good idea or not. Oh well, she will remove it later. “Anyway...” She took a few moments to stare at Fido intently, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “..it might not be a total loss...”

“So you still have a job for him?” Skrawl asked.

Sandra continued to move her feather finger along her chin as he stared intently at Fido. Slowly, she began to smile. “Yes...I believe I do...”

Skrawl smirked at this. “I’m glad you changed your mind.” He lowered himself down and grabbed onto the dog. He lifted him up. “I may not know what you want him for, but I guarantee that you will not be disappointed in using him.”

“No, I don’t suppose I will be.” Sandra commented. Looking at the dog, she realized that Skrawl was correct. There was still some use for Fido after all.

“Where do you want me to put him?” Asked Skrawl.

Sandra motioned towards the nearby empty cage. “Just keep him locked up for now.” She said as she closed her eyes, going into deep thought. “We aren’t leaving just yet. There’s still something else I need from you.”

“Oh?”

“Yes. Put Fido away and I will tell you.”

Sandra watched as Skrawl went over towards the cage with the dog. She was utterly silent, saying nothing, as she saw him place the dog in the cage. Her eyes skimmed over the controls and how he was swiftly using them. She watched as the bars closed, entrapping the canine inside. Fido did not seem to like it in there, but the dog did not seem to try to fight to get out. Such an obedient dog.

It was just a shame that obedience wasn’t the reason she wanted Fido. At least..not anymore.

Sandra got up from the ground as Skrawl made his way back over towards her. Her talons tapped against the cold, hard ground as she struggled to think with how to carry over the next part of the plan. This one was going to be a little trickier. But if she played her cards right, then everything will work out just fine.

“Okay..so what is it you wanted to ask of me?” Skrawl questioned her. He had kept walking until he was within a couple feet of her. His eyes started down at her as he waited for an answer.

Sandra knew she didn’t have much time to waste. No time to stand around and just think about what she was going to say. She just had to do it. Besides, in the end, it wasn’t like Skrawl was in much of a position to protest...now was he..?

“Do you know where your Beanie Boys are?”

Skrawl spluttered at this. “My what...?”

“Your Beanie Boys.” Sandra stared at him intently, one eye narrowing while the other lifted up. “Do you know where they are currently being held at?”

“I..” Skrawl looked left and right, as though wondering if he had misheard her somehow. Sandra simply stared at him intently, showing no change in her facial expression, indicating to him that she was being serious. Slowly, his eyes began to narrow. “What about my Beanie Boys...?”

Sandra gave him a small smirk. “Why, I plan on using them too, of course!” She folded her arms behind her back as she turned away from Skrawl. She took a few steps away, her ears twitching as she heard Skrawl give a small, disgusted growl. “I’m sure they will be useful.”

Skrawl hissed, “Now see here!”

Sandra looked over her shoulder. She smiled slyly at Skrawl as she noted how he was pointing at her like that, how his body had leaned forward a little, obtaining a more defensive posture. She could see the anger glowing in his eyes. It was apparent that Skrawl cared more for the Beanie Boys than for Fido.

“My Beanie Boys follow only my orders! You can tell Fido over ther what to do if you’d like!” Skrawl pointed a finger at the caged Fido. Then he moved his hand and pointed at himself. “But you will not be allowed to use my Beanie Boys!”

“Allowed, Skrawl...? You think I need to be...allowed to use the Beanie Boys?” Sandra asked coolly. Skrawl’s facial expression faultered only slightly. “Oh dear Skrawl... You are so naive...” She took a few steps towards him, her tail wriggling behind her. “I do not need permission...” She placed her hand against herself. “I am my own permission.”

Skrawl’s eyes widened at this as he seemed to finally realize what was going on. Then they narrowed into slits dangerously. “Then I’m afraid this partnership won’t work out if you aren’t willing to cooperate with me.” He pointed to himself. “I’m the one who calls the shots there. I will take advice from you, but if I want to put my foot down, I will! And if you dare try to take over leadership..”

Sandra tilted her head to one side. “Take over? Why...” She place a hand in front of her mouth, curling it inward. “..I am pretty sure that I am already in charge.”

“No you’re not! I let you free me! I let you come up with a plan! But I am the one who is the leader around here! You’re better off listening to me! You understand?!”

Sandra stared at him long and hard. Her eyes narrowed deeply. “Crystal.” She paused for a moment, watching as Skrawl seemed to relax a little big. Then she decided to yank the rug out from underneath him. “And let me show you exactly why you are wrong...”

Skrawl pulled his lips back into a snarl at this. His body arched as he flexed his claws. The tumor clearly did not suppress enough to make Skrawl unwilling to attack, and this showed clearly in his eyes. “You little....” With a loud growl, Skrawl charged at her.

And all the while, she just stood there, staring at him blankly, waiting for him to get close enough. And that was not going to take so long.

sss

Skrawl couldn’t believe it. How dare she... He did not care if Sandra had helped him escape. He did not care that Sandra had brought him closer to being able to get his revenge on those horrid humans and their little zoner friend. No one was going to use his Beanie Boys. Only he was allowed to use them, or even suggest using them. They were his.

And yet here was this dragon, acting as though she had the authority to tell him to bring out his Beanie Boys. He didn’t really care if she used Fido or not. He was not all that attached to that dog. However, the Beanie Boys were a completely different story. If she wanted to use them so badly, it would only be on his terms.

But even that did not seem to be too likely as Sandra just made the horrible mistake of acting like she was the leader. She somehow got it in he rmind that, just because she was the one who saved him, that meant that she was the one charge. Oh how wrong she was.... And he was going to show it to her as well. He would make sure that Sandra never forgot that he was the one who was in charge, and he was the one who ultimately had the final say in everything that they did.

His feet pounded the ground heavily as he rapidly approached the blue dragon zoner. He clenched his teeth tightly, seething through them. The foolish dragon wasn’t jumping away. That was going to be her downfall. He grinned maniacally as he raised his hand up, his glinting claws poised to strike.

That was when he noticed Sandra raising her hand as well. He nearly froze at this in confusion. However, he didn’t fully stop and he kept on pushing himself forward. He couldn’t allow this strange act to distract him. Come on he was almost there. He just needed to wait and...

Suddenly a sharp pain sizzled through his side. Skrawl’s eyes bulged and he nearly toppled into the ground. Now this ended up bringing him to a full stop. Despite his desire to keep running, he just could not ignore the pain that was wracking through his body. He soon dropped onto his knees and clutched his side, struggling to control the pain that was racing through his body.

He looked up and he could see Sandra standing there. Her arms folded, her tail swishing, an arrogant smile plastered over her muzzle. Skrawl hissed, furious with himself. How could he have trusted her so easily? What drove him to want to listen to her? Did she do something or...

Yes, she had to have done something. He would never have fallen for such a trick so easily. He would have known, right? Yeah, he would have. Sandra did something to him. But what?

Skrawl didn’t even have time to ask her in that moment. The dragon zoner twisted her arm to one side, her forehead symbol slightly glowing, and he immediately jerked his body to one side as another bout of pain spread there as well. The jellybean fought agaisnt the tears forming in his eyes. But no matter how much he curled into himself, no matter how much he fought, he could not ignore the pain that was sweeping through his shaking body. Just..what was happening to him...?

Skrawl heard Sandra give a dark laugh. He turned his head and stared up at her. What the hell was she doing to him? Was there a detail about Sandra that he had forgotten about? Just how the fuck was she causing him so much pain when she was just standing there, not even laying a hand on him? He tried to get up and walk towards her. He only ended up collapsing back into the ground.

“Such a simple, naive fool.” Sandra sneered, exposing her sharp teeth in a hideous grin. “It was so amusing, the way that you acted as though you were in charge. But really, dear Skrawl, did you think I’d be dumb enough to allow you to lead? After your own past failures...?” Sandra asked as she stared at her hand, flexing her claws.

Despite the agony in his side, Skrawl somehow managed to get back up to his feet. He wobbled a little from side to side before he managed to balance himself. He took in a few deep breaths before he pointed a claw in her direction. “Y-You should talk..” He gasped. “Y-You f-f-failed too!”

Sandra raised an eyebrow. Then she proceeded to ignore what he said, as though she did not hear him. “You have nothing to fear, though. I still need you for this plan. Just...not right now. I think I will ‘store’ you for the time being. Until I am ready to use you.”

“Use me?! I’m n-n-not o-one to be used!”

“Oh and don’t worry.” Sandra lowered her head, her ears raising up into the air. “I will take good care of your Beanie Boys for you. They will also be put to good use.”

At this, Skrawl saw red. He could feel his body burning with emotion. He could feel it shaking harder, anger intermixing with the pain. Although he knew it was a bad idea, the anger that swelled inside his skull was making it difficult for him to think. Right now, the only thing that really mattered right now was stopping Sandra and setting her straight before she went too far.

With his blood practially turning to fire, his narrowed, gleaming eyes unable to tear away from Sandra’s face, Skrawl kicked the ground with his feet. Then, like a bull, he charged towards her.

Sandra, predictably, turned up the knotch a little with her powers. Skrawl could feel the pain increasing. He could feel his body feel as though it was going to rip itself apart on the inside out. But he didn’t care in the moment. His rage fueled him, propelling him through even this difficult moment. He hardly paid any attempting to the pain as he drew himself closer and closer.

And when he got close enough, he wasted no time. With the muscles in his legs tightening, he launched himself forward. His body sailed through the air. As it did so, it felt as though time itself was slowing down to a stop. He raised his hand up, his claws flexing to strike. He opened his mouth and let out a loud yell. Then he brought his hand down, ready to tear into the scaly body that was Sandra.

But he never landed the blow.

In a matter of seconds, with a dark smile on her face, Sandra leaped up towards him. Her arms stretched out and with a few flaps, she reminded him that she was fully capable of flight. Though he realized the situation that he was in, it was too late for him to stop himself. And a few seconds later, Sandra landed her blow against him.

Skrawl’s eyes instantly widened and he let out a scream of pain. He felt the dragon’s claws raking across his body, forming large gashes along his side. Even when the claws left his body, he could still feel them inside, tearing up his flesh. His whole side erupted in burning agony. Clutching his side, he collapsed into the ground.

Skrawl struggled to breathe. Each breath caused him more pain. He could feel the sharp agony zigzagging through his ribs. He struggled to keep his eyes open, but this proved to be a futile attempt. He looked up at Sandra one more time, seeing her smile even through his blurred vision.

“Y-You...”

That was all that he managed to say before he collapsed into the ground, the darkness descending upon him.

sss

Sandra stood there for a few seconds, twitching her tail to one side. She then turned her head and looked over her shoulder. She gave a dark chuckle as she stared down at Skrawl’s unmoving form. What an idiot...

“Nice try...Skrawly boy...” She giggled before she turned around so she could face the jellybean.

Sandra ignored Fido’s frantic barking as she slowly approached the fallen jellybean’s side. Her piercing red eyes looked him up and down. It took her a few moments to realize that he was indeed down for the count. Once she figured this out, she brought herself onto one knee and reached out with one hand. She placed her fingers against his throat and waited to see if she would feel anything.

A weak thready pulse. He was still alive, just like she had intended. A part of her wondered if she had acted too quickly, that perhaps she should have let him have a little fun first before she pulled the rug out from underneath him. But she pusehd those thoughts aside for now. At least Skrawl would be under her control, just like she had intended.

Fido barked louder and louder, ramming himself against the iron bars that held him inside. This time, she could not fully ignore him. Turning her head, she glared off in his direction, curling her lips up into a snarl. Annoying little thing... Didn’t he know when to quit? There was no way he was getting through those bars. Not unless she set him free.

And she didn’t intend to do that. At least, not yet. She did have plans for the little guy, though. Since she could not use him for her initial plan, she worked out a completely different one that would still get the results that she wanted, even if they were a little...different. Fido sure as hell was not going to like it, but then, he was not the one in charge, now was he? Sandra, on the other hand, was going to get some amusement out of it.

It was funny, really. Before she was arrested, she wouldn’t have dreamed of doing something like this. It wouldn’t have benefited her, and it didn’t seem really fair to subject such a...loyal animal to this. But of course, things changed after she had to spend years in that wretched isolation chamber... Now all that mattered to her in the end was achieving her goal. And if she had to hurt someone or something else in the process...then so be it.

Besides, if she had to suffer needlessly, why shouldn’t others? She was arrested for something that wasn’t even wrong to start with. There was nothing wrong with eating a loved one as it ensures they were with you forever more. It was the ultimate honor. And yet those filthy zoners in ChalkZone City felt quite differently about that. She would never understand it, and she did not think that she wanted to.

She listened to Fido growl and bark at her for a few moments before she started to make her way towards the cage. The dog went crazy, jumping about, barking, snarling, whatever. It may be enough to intimidate a small child, but she found herself merely amused by the whole thing.

Fido seemed to realize that his barkings was having no affect on her. He continued to bark for a while, lowering his ears and baring his teeth more. But the closer she got, the more the dog lowered himself down to the ground. His tail lowered as well and he backed away. Yet the barking still came. If anything, it grew even louder and more desperate. It almost seemed to bounce off the walls around her, irritating her twitching ears. She just ignored it as she continued to approach the dog.

Then, slowly, she raised her hand up into the air. With a quick flex of her hand, the dog suddenly stiffened up, his eyes going wide. A nasty grin spread along Sandra’s face. Her fist tightened up. Fido’s body quivered and he started to howl in pain and agony. He flopped to the ground, convulsing and twitching his body left and right as he struggled to deal with the horrific pain sizzling through his body.

Keeping her hold on him like this, Sandra opened up the cage door and walked inside. She smirked down at the whimpering dog. She lowered herself enough so she could stroke him. Fido tried to snap at her, only to be haulted by an increased bout of pain. Sandra was careful not to do too much to the dog; she did not want him dying on her. Oh no...she had something much more important for him to do than that. Though dying might become part of the deal anyway.

“Oh I know it hurts, little one...” Sandra cooed as she stroked along the quivering dog’s flank. “It will continue to hurt for a while. And I’m afraid you are about to experience more pain.” Sandra watched as the dog’s eyes widened, as though he understood what she was talking about. “But don’t worry...I will make it as quick as I can, and I will heal you afterwards so you won’t be in as much pain.” She grinned. “I promise...”

With that said, Sandra rummaged through the bag she had nearly forgotten was strapped around her body. She grabbed onto the air spray can or whatever it was called that she grabbed during her escape. It had to do with cleaning computer keys or something. But now it was going to serve a much better purpose.

Returning to the dog and setting the can close to her, she proceeded to carefully slice the dog’s stomach open. She ignored the dogs yelping and yippering as she continued to proceed.

And once she was done with Fido, she would proceed to her next target.

The Beanie Boys.


	10. Four Blood Stained Claws

As the violence surges, and the teeming masses have been terrorized...  
-The Vengeful One, Disturbed

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It hadn’t been easy. The zoners had put up quite the fight. Lots of yelling and shouting and screaming. Intermixed with that, sobbing and other forms of painful cries. None of them would have believed it would be this tough just to get the zoners away from the screaming individual trying to claw his way out.

Even when they started to get zoners away, the struggling continued. Many zoners attempted to jump right back in and attack. Others even kicked them in hopes of deterring them from interfering again. Despite this, the group of friends still tried their best to get the zoners away from their hapless victim.

The tides only began to turn when the magic chalk was finally utilized. It had been reserved as a last resort; they had hoped that the zoners would cooperate if they saw the chalk and knew that they meant business. But instead, the zoners ignored this completely and continued harrassing that one zoner, whom they had recognized as Haney. Hearing the poor dragon zoner scream and call out in pain twisted their hearts, and made them even more determined to try to save him.

Working together, Mint and Penny had started to draw a barrier of some kind. This barrier sparked a little, creating a quick, sharp pain in anyone who dare try to touch it. While Snap pulled Haney away, out of the barrier, the two children began to race around the alleyway and around the zoners. They soon finished the barrier, which sealed the antagonizing zoners inside a relatively small area in the alleyway.

The zoners clamored around, shouting to be freed, struggling to find a way out. There were several shouts and screams as they tried to claw their way out of the barrier, only to be shocked soon after. Each one of the zoners wore a death glare on their faces, and they seemed to be silently demanding that they be set free, if their mouths weren’t already vocalizing this desire. The cops that had been there, trying to quell the crowd, now stood around the barrier, watching the zoners carefully as if to ensure that they didn’t get out.

Snap narrowed his eyes at this. At least the cops were being useful this time. He didn’t stay angry for long, however, as he heard Haney moaning in his arms. The small blue zoner looked down at the injured dragon zoner, who was leaning against him on the ground. Despite how much taller he was than him, it didn’t seem all that difficult for the zoner to hold onto him like this.

“I-It hurts...” Haney managed to say. His voice was low and weak and shaky. Just hearing it was enough to make Snap’s heart twist. “Please...I..”

“Shh... It’s all right now...” Snap whispered softly. He stroked his hand along the top of the dragon’s head. “It will be all right...” Snap pulled the dragon’s head closer to himself. He pressed the side of his face against him. “Just try to relax...”

Snap wasn’t really sure if his words had much of an effect on the dragon. Haney’s body was still squirming a little in pain. And looking over his body, it wasn’t like Snap could blame him.

Poor Haney was literally covered in bruises. From head to toe, Snap winced as he saw all the deep purple marks that the dragon had been given due to the rage of the crowd. A few of them were so bad that he could see blood start to drip from them. And that didn’t even get into the gashes snaking along his body. He could have sworn he saw a few teeth were missing and one of his small horns had been busted. At least one of his feelers had been ripped off and Snap could see the stains on his body from when he had thrown up. Seeing this caused Snap to slowly glare back at the crowd.

He had no idea why the zoners had done this to Haney. They had already shown that he was innocent, didn’t they? He and his friends had went through the trouble of making sure that his secret sauce thing contained no zoner DNA. And yet they were still willing to attack this poor guy like this? Just... Just how could they...?

Snap struggled to control the memories flooding his mind. It was impossible to do, however, and he found himself bombarded with memory after memory of what happened to him. This whole situation, it was so much like how he had been treated. True the zoners didn’t hurt him, but that was only because they couldn’t get to him. Had he been outside when that mob came...

“Let us go!”

“Yeah! You can’t do this to us!”

“We have rights, you know!”

Snap shot his glare back at the zoners. A part of him almost wished that Penny and Mint did something to keep that shield sound proof. He didn’t really want to hear what those zoners had to say. But...on the other hand... If they really wanted to know why they were doing this, they had no choice but to listen to their voices.

Penny and Mint stood their ground, positioned about five feet from each other at an angle. They glared in the direction of the zoners, but did not say anything. It was hard to tell if they were waiting for the zoners to calm down or for something else.

It became clear that they were merely waiting for Rudy. They had moved aside five feet so that Rudy could wheel himself in between them. Rudy had moved at quite a quick pace. Snap had never seen his friend move so fast before in his wheelchair. He could see the emotion plastered over Rudy’s face. He could practically feel it all around him, radiating off the enraged teenager’s body. And even when Rudy spoke, his voice alone trembled like crazy.

“What...did you all think you were doing?!”

Hearing just how loud Rudy had spoken caused the zoners to freeze. A few of them softened up their glances and several of them looked at each other before turning back to Rudy. They remained silent for several long moments, and Snap was honestly surprised he did not hear any crickets chirping in the background. It was so unnerving... Snap wasn’t sure which he hated the most. The zoners shouting or them being so eerily silent.

At least the silence did not last too long. In a matter of moments, a few of the zoners began to mumble to each other. Making statements, asking furious questions. None of them were discinernable enough to be answered, but a lot of communication was clearly being done with their eyes. Snap could see just how enraged they all looked. And one when of them pushed her way to the front, Snap prepared for the fireworks.

“I should have known that you four would try to stop us.” The female zoner growled as she squirmed her way through the other zoners. Some tried to move aside, but she still pushed against them anyway. “You four just don’t know when to quit, do you?”

“What...?” Mint spoke a shocked, soft voice. “You again..?”

Snap and his friends’ eyes widened as they saw who this individual was. They couldn’t believe it. It couldn’t be her again, right? There was just no way that...

But it was. Their eyes kept telling them that this was indeed the case. They could rub their eyes over and over again, and it would still result in the same thing. It would still result in them seeing this one particular zoner standing before them, this time backed up by a large and angry crowd.

It was that darn zebra zoner again.

The zebra’s eyes were narrowed into slits, her brown eyes practically gleaming in the light of the Day Zone sun. Her arms were folded against her body, her long, thin tail swishing from side to side. Her black and white striped body seemed to bristle with all kinds of emotion. Her lips were curled back into a snarl, and even if she didn’t speak, it would be clear to anyone’s eyes that she was disgusted with them.

“And here I thought that you were trying to protect ChalkZone...” The zebra said a cooled voice. There was a bit of sarcasm last in the last part of what she said, adding to the disgust that overall dominated her voice. “If you are willing to protect such a heathen and if you are willing to spread lies...”

“We aren’t lying!” Rudy spoke up before the zebra could continue. Though the zebra did stop to listen, it was clear from her expression that she was hardly all that interested in hearing what Rudy had to say. “We had already gone through that test several times and we can assure you there was no zoner DNA in there!”

The zebra rolled her eyes in disgust. “Sure, whatever. But you know, that isn’t why we went after him.”

At this, Snap and his friends froze. Snap watched as his human friends stared at each other in confusion. Snap himself could feel perplexion taking a hold of his mind as well. He stared down at Haney, his mind spinning. If they didn’t attack him because of the whole secret recipe thing, then..why did they...?

“Tell us exactly why you did this, then.” Rudy’s stern voice came. Mint and Penny nodded, giving soft sounds of approval as they glared at the crowd of zoners. “I hope you all had a good reason for acting like such....” His voice trailed off as he prevented himself from saying anything that would entice the crowd further. He eventually spat out, “...so unreasonable.”

Mint and Penny nodded once more, folding their arms as they glared at the crowd and waited. Snap did likewise. He still held onto Haney, keeping him close. But he still shot the crowd an intense, well-earned glare. He didn’t care what their reasoning was. Based on what they knew of this zebra zoner, it was going to be something insane and unreasonable anyway.

Snap’s mind was going several miles an hour as he watched his friends face off against the zoners. At first, none of the crowd had stared over at him; they were too busy glaring at the humans. Even the cops, who were right there, holding their weapons in case things really did get out of hand once again, were largley ignored. It took several seconds before any of the zoners looked over at him. And when they did, Snap immediately froze.

It had been a long time since anyone looked at him in this way. And it wasn’t even him they were glaring at; it was Haney. At least, most of them were. Haney was the target of the harshest glares. This alone made Snap feel sick to his stomach. He glared back at the crowd as he pulled Haney even closer to himself, trying his best to calm him down, shielding his eyes from their glare.

“I just can’t believe that you four are all so dense!” The zebra zoner raised her hooved hands into the air. “If you would just open your eyes and think, you will see why Haney deserves punishment!” She brought her hands down swiftly, curling her hoof fingers inward into partial fists. “Just open your eyes, dammit! You all can’t possibly be this stupid, right?!”

Immediately, there was a wash of toxins going through their bodies. The four friends narrowed their eyes further, their bodies quaking from this obvious insult. Their eyes felt emblazed with emotion, trailing behind them.

How dare she... After all the trouble they went through to save this city, including her ass, after what they had been forced to do in order to keep this place safe, she dare say such a thing to them? That ungrateful bitch... It was made worse by the fact that they were certain they had actually saved her directly before. And this was how she repaid them? Disgusting...

When the zebra zoner realized that she wasn’t getting a response from the enraged friends, she merely chuckled and gave a hideous sneer. “You know I’m right, don’t you? You know that I just hit the nail on the head and now....” Her smile faded into a snarl as she pointed an accusing finger swiftly towards them. “...you don’t even have the guts to tell us this yourselves! Cowards!”

Mint gritted his teeth as he took a tiny step back. “That isn’t true!” He made a swift, cutting-like motion with his hand. “We’re silent because we are so disgusted by this accusation!”

“Instead of telling us how stupid we are,” Penny interjected, raising a hand up to stop Mint before things got worse. “...why don’t you just tell us what else you think Haney did.”

The zebra jeered, “You should know that already, princess...”

Rudy hissed as he tightened his hands on his wheelchair’s arms. “Just tell us, Abby...”

Abby folded her arms against her chest, her tail twitching quicker side to side, like an irritated cat or an excited dog. She made a disgusted ‘hmph’ sound as she glared at the children. Occasionally, the zebra would glare over at where Snap and Haney were. Snap hunched his body upon noticing her glance, and Abby looked almost amused by his attempts to protect the dragon zoner. She then turned her head towards the humans, and any sign of a smile once more vanished.

“Okay then, if you all really want to know...” Abby gave pause. Likely for drama, judging from the look on her face. The zoners behind her watched her carefully, several of them returning their glares towads them, their eyes becoming little more than slits. “It is because he is the one who freed Skrawl.”

The four friends instantly froze up at that. They could feel a quake rushing through their bodies, their nerves activating, creating chills and flashes of heat almost simultaneously. The very idea that Haney would... It couldn’t possibly be true, right...?

They all stared at Haney. They watched as the dragon quivered on the ground against Snap. They could see the tears flowing down his face. They could see the way his tail was curling about in utter agony. They could hear him hiss and clench his teeth tightly and groan. He did not even attempt to speak a word, not even in his own defense. He was just too wracked with pain and agony to do anything.

Their shocked expressions soon vanished, replaced with ones that were more a mixture of horror and anger than anything. This combined well with their trembling bodies as they glared back at the crowd. They seethed through their teeth, unable to believe that the zoners would make such an accusation, especially after they had hurt Haney so badly. Haney hadn’t done anything ot them, and yet they had the gaul to accuse him when they were the ones who hurt him? How could they....?

“What proof do you have of this...?” Rudy’s voice came, cutting through the silence. From how shaky his voice sounded, it was clear that he was struggling really hard not to lose his temper at them.

“Tell us just how you came to these results..” Penny joined in. “I sure hope you have a good excuse for...”

“Oh we do!” One zoner called out.

Another joined in. “Yeah and it’s a good one!”

“Tell them, Abby!”

“Gladly.” Abby said. She looked over her shoulder and smiled at the zoners behind her. There almost seemed to be a sense of pride swelling up inside of her. “Listen up, you humans...” She looked back at Rudy, Penny, and Mint. “I will only tell you this once. So I hope you are all prepared to listen.”

“Sure.” Mint nodded his head. “Tell us why you think Haney here had anything to do with Skrawl getting out. We’d love to hear what your reasoning is.” It was hard to tell if he was being serious or if he was being a tad sarcastic.

Abby looked a little offended by the way Mint talked to her either way, judging from how one eyebrow was raised up. But she seemed to ignore it, moving on with a swift, forward motion of her hooved hand. “It is quite easy to understand. So simple...” She turned her hand so that her palm was facing upward. “Skrawl’s been locked up for a long while now, hasn’t he? And then Haney showed up..and now Skrawl is out.”

The four friends glared at her. They waited for her to continue. They waited to hear just how she came to her current conclusion. But when she spoke next, they were nothing short of caught off guard.

“Therefore, he is guilty.”

At this, the friends stared at her in shock. Their bodies slumped as they blinked several times, unable to believe what they were hearing. They looked at each other, at Haney, at the crowd, and then back at her. They waited and listened, almost hoping that there was more to the story than that. There had to be something more to this. There had to be. They couldn’t have...

But the longer the zebra remained quiet, the longer they stared at her smug expression as though she had given them some irrefutable proof, the more they realized that...she was being quite serious. And when they realized this, they could feel the heat in their blood rapidly rising.

“Are you serious?!” Snap was the first one to speak, his anger clearly overflowing from his voice. “That is your reasoning?! Just some...huge ass coincidence?!”

Abby gave a dark chuckle. “If you look at the evidence...”

“What evidence?!” Snap wailed. “You don’t have any! All you have is a set of events that probably have nothing to do with each other and there is little proof that they are even related!”

Mint clenched a fist tightly. “You lot had jumped to conclusions about Haney! You used your own fear and anger towards him to justify an attack!” He pointed an accusing finger at them. “That is just sick!”

“N-No it’s not...!” One zoner called out. There was slight hesitation in his voice. “I-If you would just listen...!”

“Listen to what?! You all making wild accusations at a zoner that never even hurt you?! Seriously?!” Rudy’s body trembled with rage. He was trying to settle himself down, evident by how quickly he was breathing in and out. But he wasn’t able to stop himself for long, and the emotion continued to ring true in his voice. “Of all the rotten...disgusting things I’ve seen you zoners do...”

“What’s it to you, cripple?” Abby jeered. Rudy’s eyes bulged at this in shock. Some of the other zoners looked at her, horrified as well. Though none spoke up in Rudy’s defense. “It’s not like you...”

“Shut up!” Rudy spat.

The initial sock of what Abby had called her seemed to have cleared out of his mind. The zoner’s horrific acts that the zoners committed against Haney were clearly more dominant on his mind right now than what Abby thought of him. Snap and the others watched as Rudy seethed through his clenched teeth. Neither of them dared to try to interrupted him as he was unleashing his fury at the zoners.

And when he spoke again, none of the zoners, not the cops, not the crowd, not even Abby dared to say anything to interrupt him.

“This is getting fucking ridiculous! I can’t believe you all are taking this as far as you are! You have no proof at all that he did anything! You’ve had no proof for any of the other incidents either! You were all so worked up that you acted without thinking! Look, I understand that you are all still shaken up by Sandra. Me and my friends are as well. But that is no excuse for what you did to Haney! I’m getting sick and tired of your disgusting behavior! How are wea ll supposed to move on if you allow yourselves to be so fueled by fear?! Why can’t you just think for a moment instead of allowing your fear to control you?! Gawd, I feel like I’m talking to a bunch of...of children! You all should be fucking ashamed of yourselves!”

Rudy stopped, panting heavily as he finished his rant. His eyes remained blazing, staring towards the ground, as he struggled to regain his breath after that long rant. He didn’t seem to realize how the zoners were staring at him at first. And when it finally did hit him, he froze.

The zoners were all wide-eyed, their mouths having dropped open. While a few were glaring at him, as though disgusted, most of them were just utterly horrified by what he said to them. It was hard to tell if this was because it was Rudy who had said this stuff, or if it was something else. Regardless, it was clear that Rudy’s words had indeed made an impact.

Everyone became silent at this. Even if someone wanted to speak, for a while they just could not bring themselves to do it. The tension in the air thickened up immensely. Even the act of moving a little was out of the question. They all just remained still and quiet, everyone list in their own thoughts.

Snap found it difficult to believe. He had never heard Rudy yell like that before. Granted, the zoners were kind of asking for it. But..usually Rudy was able to control himself better than that. What had caused him to lose control and just...for a lack of a better term, snap like that? The only thing that he could conclude is that it was the tension that had already formed aroud him that caused it. Yeah, that was it. Things were getting pretty heated...

He looked over at the crowd once more, this time with a more worried expression. As much as he did enjoy hearing someone tear them a new one, the fact that it came from Rudy Tabootie, of all people, was rather worrying. What would the zoners say to this? How would they respond? What would they think of Rudy after this? Would they realize they were being a little too crazy, or would they take this as a ‘Rudy didn’t want to help them anymore’ thing?

Snap turned his glance down at Haney upon hearing him moaning louder. He watched as the zoner squirmed in his arms, trying to fight against the pain. He could see blood still leaking out of his body, some of it even staining him. Seeing this did make his sympathy for the crowd go down to a degree. After all, they were the ones who did this to him. They had deliberately attacked Haney, despite knowing that he was innocent, and on such little evidence...

“So it’s come down this...” The first one to break the silence was that zebra zoner. Oh no...why did she have to be the one to speak up first? Of all the zoners... “I guess I was right about you all along, oh ‘Great Creator’...” There was a strong tinge of sarcasm on her voice. She tilted her head upwards. “You really are pathetic...”

“What did you say...?” Snap and Mint hissed almost in unison.

Penny narrowed her eyes dangerously. “How could you say that? After all Rudy has done for you...”

“Oh shut up, little girl.” Abby’s ears lowered as she bared her teeth at them. “Rudy brought this upon himself.” She glared intently at the boy as she continued to address Penny. “If he had actually done his job...”

“Well...he did have a good point...”

This sudden comment from another one in the crowd startled everyone, even the cops and Abby. The cops remained tense, still worrying that one of the zoners was going to break free and cause trouble. In the mean time, Abby was glaring over at what looked like a short, kind of meak zoner. Her eyes were cocked in disbelief, as though she could not understand why this zoner had spoken up at all.

Indeed, the meak zoner seemed surprised at himself for speaking up. His eyes shifted around, as though trying to find if someone else was there that had spoken and it only seemed like he did. It was made rapidly clear, however, that this was not the case. He looked back up at the zebra zoner and licked his lips nervously.

“I-I mean...” He began to speak in a low, soft voice. “D-Do we really have...proof?” He raised his arms up at his sides. “Maybe we did overreact a little...”

Another zoner joined his side. He placed his hand on the meak zoner’s shoulder before looking up at the zebra. “He’s right. We may have gone a little too far.”

“Let’s stop now before it’s too late.” Another spoke.

Another chimed in. “I don’t want to make the same mistakes we did before with...” A stare at Snap. “...you know...”

“Oh come now! You can’t be serious!” Wailed Abby. “You’re really going to buy into that malarky?!”

“At least some of them are willing to listen...” Mint said in a bitter tone.

Abby shot him a glare before turning back to the other zoners. She looked around, noticing how more and more of them seemed to be agreeing with the meak zoner. This was clearly taking a toll on her mental state, as evidenced by how her hand was clutched tightly and shaking in a fist. It was incredible that she hadn’t even attempted to strike any of them yet, with the way the emotion was wracking through her body.

Gritting her teeth tightly, she made a swift, cutting motion with her hand as she yelled at the zoners present with her. “Open up your minds! You all know what is going on!” She pointed at the three humans. “They are trying to trick you! They are hiding something! Why can’t you see that?!”

A female zoner raised her head up, her eyes narrowed deeply. “...maybe because you’re the one who is actually blind.”

“What? I never....” Abby spluttered. The female zoner merely glared at her. Abby clutched the sides of her face. “I don’t believe this!”

“Believe it. It seems that some of your ‘friends’ are finally coming to their senses.” Rudy said, his voice embittered. “Maybe it’s time you do the same thing.”

Penny nodded in agreement. “Just...stop, okay? I know you are upset, but what you’re doing here...” She motioned to where Haney was, still shaking in Snap’s arms. “It’s just wrong!”

Mint took a step forward. “Yeah. So why don’t you...”

“Shut up, metal leg!” Hissed Abby. “I don’t need to hear anymore of your gawd damn excuses! All of you!”

Snap and his friends narrowed their eyes once more. Even several of the crowd members were now glaring at her. It was abundantly clear that she had lost so much support at this point. And it was driving her insane. She was screaming at them, trying to get them on her side again. All she ended up doing was pushing them away further. It seemed that she did nothing but further prove that she really had lost her mind.

Snap wasn’t entirely sure if the tension was going to lift anytime soon, however. Even with Abby losing much of her support, he didn’t detect any sign of the argument slowing down. Indeed, Abby was just getting more and more desperate. He held onto Haney tighter when he heard him whimpering in fear at the sound of her. He looked at him sadly before glaring back at Abby. He hoped that something would happen soon to make her stop. This had gone on long enough.

But Abby didn’t seem to be slowing down. When she was not able to convince the zoners to return to her side, she turned her attention to the humans. The zoner cops did attempt to settle her down, but she did not seem to hear their threats at all. She just yelled over them as she focused her attention on Rudy, Mint, and Penny.

The three teenagers were able to hold their ground pretty well. Even with a few more insults spewed their way, the three tried to remain as professional as possible. They were getting worked up, yes, but they were at least refraining from yelling too loudly at this point. And as time passed, they knocked down more and more of Abby’s statements until she had nothing left but her mindless ranting.

Eventually, Abby seemed to have lost it entirely. She glared intently at the humans, seething heavily through her large, flat teeth. “You... So this is how it’s going to be, huh?! Well then, maybe Sandra should have killed all of you!”

Horror struck in the hearts of everyone who heard this. They stared at her in disbelief. It was difficult to say if she herself felt any guilt in saying that. But with how she was glaring at them, it was clear that, in that moment, she just did not care. She just continued to seethe in their direction.

The other zoners in the crowd, obviously disgusted with what she had just said, moved in towards her. Abby took notice of this and made a few surprised shouts, like ‘what are you doing’ and ‘what is happening’. The zoners did not bother to answer her as they grabbed onto her and held her still. The startled and frustrated zebra struggled frantically to get free, but it was useless.

“You traitors! You heathens! How could you side with them?!” Abby shouted at them. She continued to jerk herself from side to side, but nothing worked and she soon collapsed in their grasp. “This isn’t fair!”

“Okay now, everyone just relax!” One of the cops said. “Let’s get everything...”

“Put a sock in it, copper!” Hissed Abby.

Snap rolled his eyes at this. He had no idea why Abby kept on trying. She had lost support of the others in the group at this point. Even those who remained on her side didn’t do much to help her out of this present situation. She might as well just give up; she was only going to make it worse for herself.

He looked over at Rudy, Penny, and Mint. They all seemed to carry the same thought as he did. He could see the way that they were looking at the enraged zebra. No words were spoken, but they didn’t have to. Their glares and their folded arms were more than enough to convey the message strongly.

Snap then looked again at Haney. He bit his lip as he reached down and started to stroke along the top of his head. He wished he could do something to help take away the pain that he was feeling. Poor Haney... He didn’t deserve this... Snap couldn’t help but see himself in Haney. He remembered the pain that he had been put through, both physically and mentally. He remembered the terror that he had suffered. And to see someone else in this position, he just...it was so hard not to throw up out of fear and horror. This just...

“I am going to get you all! You hear me?!”

Snap and his friends turned to glare at the zebra zoner once more. Mint looked like he was going to say something. Penny looked disappointed. Rudy just simply glared, waiting for her to continue.

Which did not take long.

Abby managed to free an arm as she pointed in their direction. “I am going to make you all pay for....”

Suddenly, she froze. At this, everyone looked on in confusion. Some glanced at one another. Others whispered, asking just what the heck was going on. No eyes could leave the zebra as she had suddenly stiffened up, her eyes widening and her mouth opening up.

And then came the grunts. Not just annoyed grunts, as though she were struggling. No, these were grunts of actual pain. This caused everyone around her to get even more worried. They backed quickly away from her, releasing her as she desperately clutched her arm.

“What is going on?!” Snap found himself shouting, his eyes glued to the strange and horrible scene playing out before him. “What is wrong with her?!”

“I-I don’t know!” Rudy called out. “It’s just...”

“Oh my gawd...” Mint licked his lips slowly. He made a few sounds as though trying to gag. “L-Look at that...” He pointed a trembling finger towards the striped horse-like zoner.

Snap struggled to see what Mint was talking about. He looked intently around Abby, looking for anything out of the ordinary. But so far, there was just...nothing. What could he be...

Oh gawd... Was... Was her arm..bulging...?

Snap placed his hand against his stomach after he gently set Haney back on the ground. He tried to tear his eyes away, but it was impossible. No matter how hard he tried, he could not look away from the gruesome sight that was happening before him.

Abby continued to grunt, her sounds rapidly becoming more and more distressed as her arm continued to bulge wider and wider. Then her skin began to part slowly, making blood ooze down her arm, dripping off to the sides and creating small puddles on the ground. Then, without warning, her arm just...burst open.

A loud, agonizing scream echoed from not just Abby, but the zoners around her. Blood squirted everywhere. Bits of it, along with some flesh pieces, hit against several zoners, as well as the wall of the barrier. Several zoners were gagging, holding their stomachs, trying not to throw up at the size of Abby’s torn up arm and the bits of her meat that laid strewn everywhere.

“What the hell?!” Penny jumped back, her body shaking, pulling her arms to the side as though trying to avoid touching that. “What...happened...?!”

“Her arm... I-It exploded...” Mint whispered. He hunched himself a little, his teeth clenching tightly. “B-But..how..? I thought that...”

Abby’s screams were soon joined in as part of a choir. More and more of the zoners in the crowd were suddenly afflicted. Limbs swelled and exploded, releasing torrents of blood and flesh everywhere. Several collapsed to the ground, clutching their ruined limbs to themselves. Loud sobbing filled the air, intermixed with panicked cries of just what the hell was going on, others pleading for the pain to stop.

The four friends stared on at this in utter horror. They couldn’t believe what was happening. Just..what had these zoners so stricken in pain? It just didn’t make any sense at all.

Unless...

“What’s going on?!” One cop yelled.

“It looks like we have a situation, sir!” Another shouted.

“Well do something! We....”

The cops immediately froze, stopping what they were doing. They clutched their hands against their chests. They gasped heavily, and then suddenly, with some kind of muffled booming sound, they collapsed to the ground, their bodies instantly going through the death throes.

Before the four friends could even begin to respond to this, they heard more screaming. Distant, but getting louder and louder very quickly. They swiveled their heads over and they could see shadows forming on the walls of the buildings all around them. And then, a few seconds later, they could see other zoners rushing this way. It was a practical stampede, and each of them wore a horrified expression.

“Wait!” One of the zoners still alive in the barrier cried out. “What’s going on?!”

“Just run! Get out of here!” One of the zoners running away shouted. “I-It’s...!”

They were suddenly cut off when a shadow suddenly loomed over them. It moved over too quickly for anyone to get a good look at what was going on. But upon seeing just what it was, Snap and his friends instantly huddled together the best that they could, sticking close to Haney to provide him with some protection as well. There was no time to draw anything with the magic chalk. All they could do was brace themselves and...

It took only a couple seconds for the item dropped to hit the ground. There was a loud yipper of pain that seemed to have come out of nowhere. And then a bright flash of light and then a booming sound. Luckily it had landed far enough away that Snap and his friends weren’t as affected by it. But they were still struck by a blast of heat, nearly knocking them away.

All around them, zoners continued to scream in pain and agony. They could hear bodies dropping to the ground, although it wasn’t obvious if they were full bodies or body parts. More screaming echoed for several moments, and then sobbing gripped the air. Only after about a minute passed did Snap and his friends dare to look to see what had happened.

Body parts laid everywhere. Bones and guts and intestines.... Some of them had a charred look to them, more so than most of the other internal organs they could see. It made it seem as though the bomb had been alive and... Oh gawd...is that what that yippering had come from...? The horrified feeling they all felt at this was strongly complimented by the site of several dead zoner bodies, and others still alive, crawling on the ground, sobbing.

Snap had been struggling to keep it in. But seeing all the gore all around him, the horrific smell dancing around his nostrils, he just was not able to hold himself back for long. With his stomach lurching, he opened his mouth and let out its contents. He coughed and spluttered as he continued to spew, and when he finally stopped, he stared down in horror at the pile of vomit that rested before him.

He felt a hand on his back. He jerked and then he looked up. He could see Mint stared down at him, his eyes wide with concern. “Hey, are you okay, Snap?” He asked in a careful voice.

“Y-Yeah..I’m...” Snap stiffened up at the sound of more screaming. “What is that...?”

They all looked over and they could see that the ‘show’ had not yet ended. There were yet even more zoners coming this way. All terrified, all screaming, all trying to get away from...whatever it was that was chasing them. It almost seemed at first that they had outrun their attacker, and some did start to slow down.

But then there was a flash of blue. Instantly the four friends stiffened up at this, staring at each other and the event going on before them in terror.

No...it couldn’t be...

Something blue and swift struck against several of the zoners. With all the running around and with how quick the blue shape was moving, it was hard to get a lock on just who it was. The only thing they were aware of was something striking the zoners, blood splattering all over the ground, and then hearing zoner’s agonal breaths as they died in rather painful fashions.

Then, without warning, they saw it. A sky blue muzzle coming out from the crowd. A set of gleaming red eyes as the jaw opened up widely, showcasing rows of sharp teeth. A terrified citizen zoner trying to get away before the teeth clamped down around their neck, the jaws instantly crushing their windpipe and making them go limp with a gag.

Snap’s mind spun as he stared at the horror that was taking place right before his eyes. He licked his lips slowly, his heart pounding against his chest, unable to believe what was going on. He couldn’t help but release a small whimper, hardly comforted by his friends’ gentle squeezes and words. After all, they were just as struck with horror as he was.

Snap watched as the blue zoner stood there, swishing a spiked tail from side to side, those long, dark tipped ears twitching. Blood caked around the mouth and dripped off to the side, looking almost like ketchup. The sight of it was nearly enough to make him throw up yet again.

No..it was impossible.. This had to be a bad dream. Th-There was no way that.. No...she couldn’t have been...

Then the blue attacker seemed to take notice of them. The head was shifted towards him, a hideous smile spreading across the muzzle. A foot raised up and slashed down another zoner, forcing them to grunt when they made impact. The two legger shifted weight to keep the zoner pinned down. The tail struck out at another zoner, slashing their throat straight open and forcing them to fall into the ground.

“Well well.... ain’t this a pleasant surprise...?” The foot pressed down harder and then yanked back. The zoner underneath let out a bloodcurdling scream as the sharp tips of the claws raked across their back, ripping off flesh and splattering blood everywhere. “I never thought I would see you again, and so soon too...” A hand motioned sideways in gesture. “Did you enjoy the canine bomb? I heard it was a blast!”

The four friends couldn’t think of anything to respond. They could only stare in utter horror at the blue zoner before them. They breathed in and out shakingly, to the point where it was amazing they could even stay up. Rudy had a few tears moving down his cheeks and Snap was whimpering softly under his breath.

The blue zoner noticed this and sneered. “Oh come now... Is that what my welcome back party is going to look like? I would think you would have tried better than that.” The blood on the mouth was licked off. The foot raised up and motioned towards them, flexing outwards almost like a hand, tipped with four blood stained claws. “After all..it has been so long since we’ve seen each other. Why don’t we do some...catching up...”

Snap licked his lips nervously, his lower lip quivering as he struggled not to scream. He managed to choke out one word before the attacker made another movie.

“S-S-Sandra...”


	11. The Return Of Terror

So here I go again, chasing you down again...  
-Over And Over, Three Days Grace

sss

Time seemed to slow down to a crawl. It was difficult to tell just how fast things were really moving. In the frightened boy’s mind, the only thing that he could process was a set of jaws and blood red eyes looking directly at him, as though he were some kind of prey that it was trying to hunt.

Run.. He had to run... He had to get out of here and now. He tried to pump the energy in through his legs. He tried to make himself get up and run. He tried to flee this horrible situation.

That’s when he realized it.

He couldn’t run.

But...why? He has to be able to run. His brain constantly screamed at him to move. He tried so hard to obey it. He tried to get himself to get up and run. He could feel some kind of burning sensation in his legs. He could feel his toes slightly twitching at the faintest provocation. He just needed to listen to his mind and get up. That’s all he had to do. Just get up and run away. Get away. Somewhere safe.

Please...let him leave... That’s all he wanted to do. He just wanted to go somewhere where he didn’t have to worry about this anymore. He just wanted to be safe. Was that so wrong?

Then..why wasn’t his body responding? Why was he still just sitting here? Why wasn’t he moving? His legs were right there. He could sense them. All he had to was just...move them, gawd damn it. Please move... Come on body...please move. Why wasn’t it working? The threat was getting closer. The teeth. The red eyes. Getting closer. Why wasn’t he moving...?

Then the blue mouth opened up a little more. The angle had shifted slightly. It was now directly in front, straight on. He could not longer see the eyes. Just the sharp teeth. And when he saw them, something flashed in the back of his mind. The boy immediately stiffened at them.

There was an echo of white flashes in the back of his mind. They dominated his consciousness. They crawled into the back of his head, forcing him to keep remembering them. No matter how hard he tried to push them away, they just refused to stop. It was as though something else was controlling them, driving them through his mind like some kind of large drill. And as the flashes continued, he started to realize what they were.

Memories of what happened to him five years ago.

Sandra charging towards him. Opening her jaws. Her teeth in his neck. Hitting against the ground. A tighter grip. The horrible pain. And then...

A loud crack.

His neck had been broken.

He couldn’t even blink his eyes as he was struck with the cold, harsh realization. That’s right... He couldn’t get up. He had been paralyzed in the legs. He could not move his legs to get away. He could not move.

He was paralyzed.

And with this, came an onslaught of something else. Burning, seething, rising up in the back of his head. He could feel it clawing its way to the surface. No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t stop it. He could feel his body shaking. He thought he could hear his friends calling out to him. But no matter what, he couldn’t even respond to them. It was as though his voice had been stolen away from him. All he could do was stare out ahead as the slow moving mouth with sharp teeth got closer.

His mind was locked in fear. He couldn’t turn away. This wretched emotion, it refused to allow him to look anywhere. The only direction that he could look in was....straight ahead. Directly at this menace. He licked his lips slowly, and he did the only thing he could think of.

He screamed.

“Help me! Somebody, help me!”

“Rudy!”

Rudy became aware of someone rushing towards him. He turned his head. His vision was too wonky right now to fully recognize who it was. But this person...looked so familiar. It was Penny, wasn’t it? Yes, he’d recognize her soothing voice anywhere. He could see her rushing over, trying to grab onto him.

But then there was a flash of blue. He heard Penny grunt. He heard her scream as red splattered everywhere. Her blood...it caked her arm as she staggered back. Rudy widened his eyes, barely able to process this. He tried to speak out, yell at her, try to get a response. He heard other shouts. His other friends slamming into the ground as well. And that’s when he felt something shift. He turned his head, and he almost screamed.

Sandra was on his wheelchair. The sky blue dragon leered down at him intently, her tongue moving along her lips before she distorted her facial muscles into a snarling smile. Rudy was immediately frozen in terror, his blood turning into chilling ice.

And for what felt like a long time, they simply stared at each other. Rudy felt drawn in to her eyes. Those crimson eyes that bored through his very soul.. They kept staring at him, studying him, looking as if they were daring him to make a move. Her mouth remained curled in that vicious, evil smile. There was a glint in her eye. Upon seeing it, Rudy managed to force himself to take in a shuddering breath and lick his lips slowly. He tried to say something, but his voice had been muted.

“Hello there, Rudy.” Sandra said with a dark inflexion in her voice. “I’m..so happy to see you again. How have you been..?”

Rudy couldn’t think to speak. He could only whimper, cringing as far away from her as he could. He wanted to wheel away so badly, but he couldn’t; Sandra’s talons were wrapped around the wheels and she was balancing herself by leaning her weight towards him. He couldn’t even try to get away anymore. He had missed his chance.

Sandra’s eyes shifted down as she turned her head downwards to look at what he was in. She moved her snout along as she trailed her eyes along the contraption that she had forced him in years ago. “Hmm... Nice accomodations, Rudy. I see you have been....adapting well...” She tilted her head to one side. “You been enjoying yourself..?”

Rudy struggled to say something in response. He licked his lips nervously. He drug in a few more shaky breaths. But he still could not speak. He could only whimper and struggle not to vomit. He could feel something lurching in his stomach. His stomach wanted to... No..he couldn’t vomit, not here. What would Sandra do if he..?

He suddenly jerked when he felt Sandra’s had on his face. He felt flashes in his mind from when she touched him when he was still paralyzed. He suddenly felt utterly helpless. If he couldn’t move before, now he really couldn’t move. He could only stare at Sandra as she caressed his cheek a little.

“Oh aren’t you so cute? Acting all afraid...” Sandra chuckled softly. “I never really realized just..how adorable you can be.”

Rudy managed to chocke out, “P-Please don’t hurt me...”

Sandra widened her eyes and she made a mock gasp of shock. “Me? Hurt you?” She placed her hand against herself and then motioned towards him. She then gave him a false, reassuring smile. “Oh dear little Rudy...” She began to stroke his forehead and hair. Rudy shuddered and let out a low whine. “Wherever did you get that idea...?”

“Leave our friend alone!” Shouted Mint.

Sandra paused and pulled her head back. She looked over at where Mint was rushing towards them. His hand was curled up into a fist and he looked just about ready to strike. Rudy looked on in horror, his mouth stumbling, trying to find the strength to say ‘no please go away Mint’. Anything to keep his friend from getting himself hurt. And when he saw Sandra’s tail raise up, he shook his head in desperation, hoping that Mint would change course and go away before Sandra could hit him.

Then he noticed more shapes coming over. Positioned at different locations, Penny and Snap glared at Sandra. Their bodies were hunched, their teeth gritted in determination. Nothing about their body language indicated that they were going to leave any time soon. They just focused on glaring at Sandra, looking just as eager to jump on her as Mint was.

Upon seeing his two additional friends looking ready to fight, Sandra gave pause. She narrowed her eyes, looking as if she were really reconsidering her current position. She looked from Rudy and to his friends, repeating this pattern a few times. Then she settled on looking at him, her eyes resting upon his own. A smile slowly spread across her face and she gave a dark chuckle before she jumped back from him, flapping her arms and flying a short distance above him.

She turned her attention to Mint. She opened her mouth and let out a loud hiss. Mint ignored this warning and he took out a piece of magic chalk and raised it up. Sandra’s eyes flickered, showing an expression that was close to fear. She quicklly recovered and, clearly determined to stop him, she dove down twoards Mint, splitting her mouth further open in hopes of biting into him.

However, Mint was faster than she was. With several flicks of his wrist, he was able to quickly draw something before Sandra had time to react. In his hands, he was now holding a long bat with small spikes decorated on it. Rudy widened his eyes at the sight. True to Mint’s character; if he felt something needed to be done, he was not afraid to bring out the big guns. But even knowing that Sandra had this coming did nothing to stop Rudy from looking on in horror as Mint struck Sandra against her shoulder and side of her neck.

The impact’s thud almost seemed to echo. Sandra let out a screech as the spikes raked across her shoulder and neck. They did not cut deeply, but it was enough to make the dragon zoner fall into the ground. The bipedal dragon rolled across the ground before landing in a heap a few feet away. Mint took immediate position in front of Rudy, seething with his teeth clenched, holding up the bat threateningly.

“Don’t you fucking dare hurt him...” Mint warned her, growling lowly. “I swear... If you dare take another step closer and I will crack your skull open with this... I swear it...”

Though clearly a bit unnerved by that threat, Penny and Snap did nothing to protest. They merely took a closer position beside Rudy, providing further protection from the deranged blue dragon. They glared at Sandra, growling softly, eyes narrowed in determination. They said not a word, and their bodies trembled in emotion. Their narrowed eyes gave Sandra a clear message: they weren’t going to leave.

Rudy wanted to shout at his friends to leave. He wanted them to get out of here as soon as possible. He...He didn’t want to see them get hurt. It just wasn’t fair. They shouldn’t have to get hurt. It was him that Sandra was after, right? Maybe...if he could get her attention, then...

Sandra laughed as she climbed up to her feet. She hunched her body a little, holding her arms and hands in an awkward manner, almost as if she were some kind of dinosaur. Her tail raised up, arching, the tail turning so that all four spikes were pointed in their direction. Her lips were curled upwards to expose her teeth, and her mouth stretched back in an almost unnatural state. Her sharp teeth glintched in the light of the Day Zone sun.

“You are all such....wonderful friends to your little pet here...” Sandra cooed. She looked directly at Rudy for a moment, giving off a soft chuckle. Mint, Penny, and Snap just glared at her while Rudy cringed further away, struggling not to let out another whimper. “I see he is well trained now. Stuck in a wheelchair. Heh...such a perfect punishment for such a little promise breaker...”

“You...little fuck!” Mint raised his spiked bat up once more. “You’re the one who put him there! Have you no shame?!”

Sandra straightened herself up, tapping her chin thoughtfully with a finger. “Hmm...let me think about this...” She then closed her eyes and raised her hand up dismissively. She shook her head once and said, “Nah..not really. Why should I?” She reopened her eyes and smirked at them. “I mean...the little runt did deserve what he got. If he hadn’t...”

That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Despite Penny’s shouts for him to stop, Mint rushed over towards Sandra, raising up his bat, determined to strike her down. Sandra looked up at him and smirked, not at all surprised by this turn of events. It was almost as though she had expected it....

“Wait! Mint! Come back!” Rudy shouted as a realization dawned on him. “Get out of here, before she...!”

Mint did not seem to hear him. He let out a shout as he raised the bat higher, his arm muscles tightening. Sandra chortled at this, which only seemed to make Mint madder. He broughtit down, attempting to strike her...

...only for Sandra to jump to one side, using her wings to move herself further in a single bound. Mint stumbled forward, unable to stop himself. His eyes widened as he turned to her, and in those few seconds before Sandra made her next move, Mint seemed to realize just what was coming. His expression was replaced with one of pain as he screamed, Sandra wacking her tail against his side and knocking him into the ground.

“Oh...so close! Better luck next time, I suppose!” Sandra placed one hand against her elbow and the other under her chin, shaking her head in disappointment. “You should also work on your form a little more.”

Snap snarled. Though fear was still on his face, there was now rage. Upon seeing how Sandra treated Mint, and hearing how she was talking of them, it seemed to cause something to click inside his mind. Snap let out a yell as he charged forward.

However, he was not as lucky as Mint had been. At least he had only been knocked into the ground. To Rudy’s horror, Sandra decided not to be so merciful on Snap. As soon as she raised her hand up, everyone knew exactly what was going to come.

“W-Wait... Ahhh!” Snap screamed as he clutched against his back. He immediately dropped into the ground, his legs twitching frantically, his body flipping about as he struggled to fight against the pain. “Please stop this! Please...I...” His voice was dissipated into more screams.

“Stop that!” Rudy shouted, tears strolling down his face. “Please, Sandra! Leave him alone!”

Penny was silent, too stunned and horrified to say anything. She held up the magic chalk, clearly wanting to do something to help their friend. But she remained frozen, trembling hard, her eyes unable to tear away from where Snap was convulsing on the ground. Her fear-filled eyes told the story well. And Sandra’s sneer in her direction confirmed it. If Penny tried to make a move, then Sandra was going to make one of her own.

And Snap might not make it out alive.

Sandra, on the other hand, showed no signs of letting up. She merely intensified her grip on Snap, causing the zoner to let out a loud scream of agony. She laughed at his pain, as though it was the most amusing thing in the world. She twisted her hand, making him writhe even more.

“This is quite interesting. Snappy boy...you never told me that you had a prosthetic vertebrate...”

At this, everyone froze immediately in horror. They could not believe what they just heard. They looked at each other before gluing their eyes back upon Sandra. None of them dared to speak. Even Mint, who had gotten from the ground and had tried to get to Sandra, had stopped, afraid that if he took one step closer, that was going to be it for their friend.

Snap looked the most horrified by this statement. And why shouldn’t he? He was the one writhing on the ground, tossing and turning as though Sandra had a saw in her hand, ready to be used upon him. Snap let out a series of frightened whimpers. Intermixed in those were small words like ‘please don’t’ and ‘let me go’. Sandra merely chuckled at this as she looked at him with an interested expression, as though he was some kind of fascinating thing that she found.

“So fascinating...I wonder how they even got this thing in there...” Sandra walked up to Snap, eyeing him carefully as she looked at his back. “And just how did this happen? Did someone...hit you?”

Mint gulped at this. For a moment, he wore a guilty expression. Then he shook his head and managed to take a step forward. He pointed a finger in Sandra’s direction and shouted, “Hey why don’t you back off and leave him alone?!”

Sandra lifted her head up and stared over at Mint. There was a twinkle in her eye, as though she realized something. “Mind explaining to me what happened, then?” When she noticed Mint faulter, she grinned maniacally. “I knew it... You were the one who hurt Snap, weren’t you? How delightful..” She looked back down at Snap. “You caused him enough damage to need a new vertebrate. Such a risky procedure.” She gave him a sideways glance. “I must commend you.”

Mint started to tremble in emotion. “F-Fuck you...”

“Heheheh...whatever...” Sandra sneered.

Penny narrowed her eyes and called out, “What Mint did was an accident! What you’re doing is deplorable!” She pointed at Sandra, who just stared back blankly, as though Penny weren’t saying anything. “You’re the one who is... How could you think of being so cruel?!”

“I’m not being cruel at all...” Sandra placed a hand to herself, arching her body backwards while her tail curved in one direction. “But..if you really think that I am being...unfair...” She returned to her previous posture. Her narrowed, red eyes gleamed in Penny’s direction. “Snap is the one who started the whole thing. He’s the one who betrayed my trust. And he is the one who turned those zoners against me. He is, in many ways, responsible for what happened to me.”

Rudy coud feel disgust clinging to his stomach. A part of him was not at all surprised that Sandra was saying this. But another part just wanted to snap at her, despite his fear. How could she even think of trying to blame Snap for what happened to her? She’s the one who... who had... He could feel himself steam as the back of his mind quaked with the memory of what Sandra had put Snap through. How dare she try to put the blame on him...

“Besides...I am just curious about his back here...” Sandra looked down at Snap. The zoner was still shaking and crying at this point. “I mean, to need a prosthetic...lots of damage had to have been dealt. Maybe if I did some searching around in there, I could...”

“Fuck off!”

Before Rudy realized what he was doing, before he could try to stop himself, he just...lost it. Grabbing onto Penny’s chalk, ignoring her shout of protest at him, he pulled his arm back and he tossed the chalk as hard as he could towards Sandra.

After spinning around in the air a few times, the object hit Sandra square on her forehead. Her eyes widened as she let out a small shout of pain. She took a step back and she clutched her head tightly, her hands pressed close to the middle of her forehead where the triangular mark was located. Her hold on Snap seemed to have loosened up as Snap managed to climb to his feet and staggered away.

“Rudy...” Penny whispered, her voice tinged in fear. “Wh-What did you...”

Upon hearing Penny’s voice, Rudy’s eyes bulged wide open. He stared off at where Sandra was holding her head, the piece of magic chalk now laying by her feet. It didn’t seem like she noticed, however. Her focus seemed to be on her forehead.

Mint stared over at Rudy in shock. “Rudy, you...”

Snap, who had managed to stagger towards Penny, also looked quite stunned. He might not have seen that Rudy threw that chalk, but his expression made it very clear that he was aware of what happened. “Thanks, Rudy.”

Although it was clear that Snap really did mean that, Rudy couldn’t help but hear it in a sarcasm mode. He just couldn’t help it. He had never done something this stupid before. And when Sandra looked back at him with those eyes practically glowing red, he gulped and cringed back further into his wheelchair.

“I-I...I...” Rudy managed to say, licking his lips slowly. “I didn’t mean...”

Sandra, on the other hand, was in no mood to listen to him. “You...little...promise breaker!”

Sandra jumped up into the air. She flapped her limbs hard, staring down at them with those red, murderous eyes. Her teeth were bared as she let out a low, loud growl that each of them could practically feel in their chests, rumbling through their hearts. She flexed her claws eagerly, her mouth corners tilting back into a very small smile. Then, without warning, she dove down towards the group, her feet brought forward and tilted up, her talons flexed and ready to tear into flesh.

Rudy stiffened at this. He couldn’t even bring himself to scream. He couldn’t hear what any of his friends were saying. The only thing he could do was just watch for several moments before, at least, managing to do something. Shutting his eyes tightly, he turned his head away and waited for the impact.

However, it never came. Rudy could a thud sound and an irritated yet pained shriek. Curious, but still frightened, Rudy managed to open his eyes and look over to see what had happened.

Mint had been able to take action. Moving just as quickly as before, the slightly older teenager was able to strike out against Sandra once more, using the same bat as before. Sandra now laid upon her back, groaing a little as blood dripped along her chest where Mint had struck her.

But Sandra was not down for long. With a growl, she jumped up into the air, flipping herself around so that she now stood on all fours. She raised her tail up and shook it from side to side as though she were some kind of snake. She growled in Mint’s direction, narrowing her eyes at him. She opened up her mouth, showing off her sharp teeth once more. Then she launched herself at them...

...only to be slammed against a small wall that Mint just finished drawing. The sky blue dragon was smooshed against the wall, looking almost comedic. She dropped into the ground and held onto her nose, patting it gingerly. She soon looked back at them and adopted an aggressive stance. Neither took eyes off the other.

Rudy gulped as he kept asking himself one question: what was going to happen now...?

sss

It was difficult for Snap to process just what was going on here. He couldn’t stop staring at Sandra as she stood before them, glaring intently at them. It was difficult to say when the next move would have been made. Sandra was just...staring at them, breathing heavily, her mouth open to show her sharp teeth. Snap wanted to say something, anything, to try to put an end to this nightmarish staredown.

But he remained quiet. His voice couldn’t find its way out of his throat. He could only focus on what laid ahead of him. He just couldn’t stop staring at Sandra. And it seemed as though she could not stop staring at them. Those red eyes...they were looking right down into his soul...

Snap’s mind raced as he tried to comprehend just what was going on here. He...He couldn’t believe that Sandra was here... He had hoped it was some kind of nightmare. But the longer he stayed here, the more he became convinced that...no this is no nightmare. Sandra really was here, freed of that isolation cell she belonged in, free to do whatever she wanted. And the worst part of it all was...

...she was no longer hindered by that helmet..

Snap felt his gut twisting as he stared at that triangle mark, the central of her so-called ‘super healing powers’. He could still feel the pain in his back from where Sandra had used her abilities. He could see clearly in his head memories of what took place years ago, how she had used her powers on him, how she had used her teeth to tear apart his stomach... He placed his hand over his stomach as he remembered that gruesome detail, feeling the phantom pain snake through his body.

He took a moment and looked around him. He flinched as he saw all the damage that Sandra had done in such a short time. There weren’t anymore zoners running through here, which was something of a relief since no one else would get hurt. At least for now. But that bit of good news did not shake off the sickening feeling forcing its way into the very back of his throat as he looked at the carnage that laid all around them.

Body parts everywhere... Blood and guts and gore... He could see some bodies ripped apart. He could see a few zoners on the ground, still convulsing. He could see others just starting to die at last. Others were already dead, eyes wide open and staring into nothingness. And all the while, the color red had filled up his vision. He could have sworn that, for a while, red was the only color that he was truly aware of.

He turned his head and he looked back at Sandra. He gulped as he watched how she paced around them slowly. With the shield not being long enough to cover them all, they had to shift themselves around, following in Sandra’s lead to keep the shield in front of her. This would not stop her powers from getting to them, but they did at least stop her from being able to jump at them with those sharp teeth and claws of hers.

Snap could feel his mind spinning, swirling, struggling to find a way out of this. There just...had to be something that he could do. He couldn’t just stand there and do nothing. He licked his lips slowly, trying to think of something..anything...

But...even if he could figure out something...would it even be enough? Sandra was going all out. It was unlikely that anything he did was going to deter her. He could see the look in her eyes, and he could hear the way that she was growling. She was fully ready to strike, and that wild look in her eyes indicated that she was not going to back down so easily.

Still, he had to try. If he didn’t, then...

“Anyone willing to make a move?” Sandra’s voice broke the silence, cutting through the air and ringing over their heads. They stiffened immediately, watching the dragon zoner carefully, confused, as she straightened herself up quickly, making a few small gestures with her hand. “Or are all of you out already? I’d be disappointed if that were the case. I mean...I planned all this...” She held her hands out indicating the area all around them. “To think that I wasted my time doing that....” She chuckled and shook her head, placing a hand over her face. “I do hope that you all prove me wrong...”

Mint gritted his teeth tightly. “Oh you want to be proven wrong, eh?” He raised up his bat again. He slammed a smooth portion into his palm repeatedly, narrowing his eyes. “I would be glad to provide that...”

Sandra chuckled at this. “I would not doubt you for a second, my dear creator.” Sandra moved herself around a little until she was positioned in front of Mint. She regarded him with a level of curiosity, rubbing her chin thoughtfully. “Though I’ve got to ask....” Her eyes soon rested upon the club. “How well would you fight without that?”

Snap widened his eyes at this. He looked over at Mint nervously, as did Penny and Rudy. They all understood exactly where Sandra was going with this. They...They couldn’t allow her to trick Mint like this. If he were to leave from the relative safety of the shield to out there....

“How I fight is none of your business, Sandra!” Mint shouted. Snap and the others stifled a sigh of relief as Mint showed no signs of being fooled by Sandra into coming out. “The real question is....” He raised the club up higher. “Are you willing to take me on without resorting to using your powers?”

Silence at this. Sandra stared at him with wide shocked eyes. She was quite still and quiet, just like Snap, Penny, and Rudy. They could not take their eyes off of Mint, wondering if he had just gone off the deep end. He couldn’t possibly be serious...

Could he?

Snap stared wide-eyed at Mint, unable to believe what was going on. Was Mint really seriously going to... No, he couldn’t.... If he tried to... Sandra would... Snap wanted to say something... anything... to get Mint to change his mind. He just couldn’t be serious about this. Mint knows just how dangerous Sandra is. She had dislocated his jaw before and messed with his chopped leg. He had been lucky. Snap had his doubts that Sandra would be so merciful this time around.

But that didn’t seem to bother Mint. It was hard to tell if he was simply ignoring it, or if he really did forget what Sandra had put him through. He simply glared off in Sandra’s direction with that challenging smirk, showing no signs of backing down any time soon. The tension this created made the air around them quite thick, and they all watched with great nervousness as Mint faced off against Sandra.

“So...you really do want to go through with this, do you?” Sandra straightened herself, her arms becoming folded behind her back. “Well isn’t that an...interesting turn of events.” She paused for a few moments, as if to ponder this situation. It seemed clear, from the look in her eyes, that she had not considered this kind of situation. “Okay then... I suppose you and I could have a little fun together.” She motioned her hand towards him. “Why don’t you come over here and we can have our little spar.”

Mint narrowed his eyes deeply. “No powers?”

Sandra raised her hand up. “No powers.” Then she pointed at Mint, giving a glare of her own. “No magic chalk?”

Rudy, Penny, and Snap stared at Mint with wide, terrified eyes. They all hoped that he would come to his senses and not do anything crazy... but this was proven wrong when Mint suddenly dropped both his magic chalk and the weapon. He raised his hands at his in the air, and after giving a nod of his head, he told Sandra one thing.

“It’s a deal.”

Sandra grinned at this. “Excellent...”

Penny grabbed onto Mint tightly, yanking him a little towards her. The two locked eyes with each other. Penny’s expression was... it was enough to make Snap wince. It even seemed to give Mint pause for a moment. “Mint, you can’t do this! You know what will happen if you...”

“I know it’s crazy. But..I’ve got to do this.” Mint narrowed his eyes. He gently pushed Penny’s hand from his arm. “Please, just...trust me on this.”

“Mint...” Rudy spoke up. He stared long and hard at Mint. He couldn’t seem to bring himself to say anything else. He was just slowly shaking his head, looking as though he was whispering the word ‘no’ over and over again.

Mint looked at him sadly, and released a small sigh. He managed to force a smile and he placed a hand on Rudy’s shoulder and said, “I will be all right. I promise..”

There was a noticeable twinkle in Sandra’s eyes. The line she spoke next caused Snap’s blood to freeze. “I sure hope you can keep that promise...” She raised her hands up as if prepared to fly again. “I would hate to think what would happen if you end up just like the promise breaker there.”

Upon being pointed at, Rudy let out a small whimper. Despite his clear attempts to be brave, seeing Sandra again after so long was having a toll on his mind. And none of them could really blame Rudy for how he was reacting. Sandra did almost kill him before. There was no telling how much closer she’d get with that goal at this point. Especially now that she seemed to have less of a limit and her powers were back.

In response to Sandra’s comment regarding Rudy, Snap and Penny huddled closer to Rudy. They grabbed onto his hands to try to comfort him while shifting their glaring gaze in Sandra’s direction. Mint took a step forward, keeping his defensive stance in front of Rudy. He was quite close to the shield that separated him from Sandra, his narrowed eyes showing no sign of backing down or relenting. This show of bravery only seemed to further amuse Sandra.

“So you’re really going go through with this. I suppose I shouldn’t really be surpirsed about that.” Sandra lowered herself, rendering her back parallel to the ground like a dinosaur. She gave a snarling grin over in Mint’s direction. “Okay then, my ‘dear creator’... Let’s get this over with.”

Mint took another step forward. This time, he started to lift the shield up so he could continue to go through. But before he had moved over completely, he suddenly stopped. He stared at Sandra long and hard before uttering, “...you promise...?”

Snap immediately realized what Mint was doing. He recalled, with some chilling memories, how Sandra was utterly obsessed with promises. She wouldn’t dare break one of her own...would she?

He looked over at her, his eyes a mixture of wide and narrowed as he stared at Sandra cautiously. Then again...with how she is now, would she even be in the right mental state to keep it a secret? She might claim to agree, only to utterly betray her own beliefs in favor of getting to them. Who knows how much damage being isolated for so long has done to her...?

Snap couldn’t help but swallow, feeling his heart race against his chest. In the past, he had been glad to hear about Sandra being locked up. He had thought that she deserved it. But now that she was out, he was starting to wonder if Sandra should have been put to death instead.

Yes...they really should have done that.

Sandra kept staring at Mint in silence slowly moving her tail from side to side. Her stare bored straight through Mint like some kind of invisible drill. The silence become thick, spreading all around them. None of them dared to move or breathe. Sandra’s expression was entirely unreadable; she could go in either direction. Everyone held their breath as they waited for a response.

Then Sandra raised her head up a little, giving a small smile. “I promise.”

sss

“I promise.”

Mint allowed this to ring throug his head. He continued to stare at Sandra to make sure that she had actually meant it. There did not seem to be any change in her expression and she merely nodded her head to confirm.

It was difficult to say if she was being honest or not. She might be lying. Maybe her mind was more warped when she was isolated. Then again, she might still hold true to the promise thing. She did speak rather harshly to Rudy about being a ‘promise breaker’. It seemed unlikely she’d do that unless...unless she still adhered to that. And in that case, it was quite possible to still exploit that and make her avoid using her powers on him.

At least, he hoped that would be the case. He knew that this collaborative creation of his was full of surprises. She was hardly like anything that he had intended at this point. He could barely recognize her at all. If it weren’t for her design and the location she had appeared when when she first arrived, he would have denied her being his creation entirely.

Mint watched as Sandra curled her finger back and forth, beckoning him to come over. He paused for a moment and looked back over at his friends. He could see how they were looking at him, shaking their heads, clearly hoping that he would not be dumb enough to walk out, especially when he had no magic chalk to protect him. Mint could feel his gut twisting as he looked to see just how upset each of his friends looked, and he felt horrible about doing this.

Still, he knew he had to do something. He did have a plan of sorts, but it was so risky that he dare not tell it to them right now. For now, he will just keep playing up the bravado and continue on with this suicidal mission. If Sandra keeps her promise, at least he would not be harmed by her powers.

Her claws and teeth however...

He couldn’t help but flinch. He could already feel them rakig his body, slicing through his meat... Despite that, he still pressed him forward. Narrowing his eyes, he soon left the safety of the shield and walked towards Sandra.

Stopping a few feet away from her, he stared intently at her. He took in slow, steady breaths, keeping his racing heart and mind in check. This lasted for several moments, neither saying a word. Sandra soon took a small step towards him, but also gave pause, almost as though she was uncertain.

Mint took this chance to give a little taunt, hoping to entice Sandra into a brawl with him. That would give enough time for.... “So are we going to do this or what? Or are you suddenly too chicken?”

Behind him, he could hear his friends suddenly gasp in horror. He didn’t have to look back at them to know what kinds of expressions that they were making. He felt a pang in his stomach as he realized just how worried and horrified for him that they were. Despite that, he kepet his focus only on Sandra.

The blue dragon zoner seemed a little taken aback by his taunt. He saw how her body had almost immediately straightened, her eyes going wide like red-stained saucers, her pupils shrinking a tad. This only lasted a few moments before Sandra narrowed her eyes, flashing her teeth in a snarl. Mint only smiled in response. This was exactly the kind of response that he wanted.

When Sandra gave the initial charge, Mint was momentarily frozen. The back of his mind flashed with images of Sandra yanking out his jaw, and how she had come so close to ripping it off completely. He could feel the sharp pain in his jaw and he found himself gingerly rubbing its hinges before he snapped himself back to reality. He planted his feet firmly on the ground and waited for the right moment.

As soon as Sandra was about three feet in front of him, he took action. He jumped to the side, turning himself in a wide circle as Sandra’s momentum kept her moving forward. The dragon turned her head and let out a loud snarl in his direction. Her feet clamored to turn herself around, but Mint managed to get in close to her before she could fully shift her body around. He did not hesitate to push against her, his hands ramming against solid muscle. This push was enough to nearly knock Sandra off her feet. But to Mint’s horror, she recovered a little quicker than he had expected.

Before he knew it, Sandra had rammed into him and bit down on his shoulder. Mint opened his mouth and let out a scream. He could her the shouts of his horrified friends. Even though his pain, however, Mint still told them to stay away, not wanting them to get tangled up in this mess. There was still a chance for his plan to work. He just needed to keep Sandra’s attention for a while.

Mint started punching Sandra against her eye and side of her face. These actions did cause the dragon to loosen her grip on him. She reluctantly began to pull away, but some of her teeth still remained in his shoulder. With an open palm, he slapped the tip of her nose as hard as he could, which caused her to open her mouth and yelp, recoiling.

Taking this opportunity, Mint struck out with one of his legs. His foot collided with Sandra’s leg, against her shin. The dragon’s eyes widened and she toppled into the ground. But though this seemed like a victory for him, Mint couldn’t help but feel that something was....wrong about this.

And he turned out to be right. Sandra didn’t drop down due to the pain. She dropped down so she could get a better angle and...

Mint let out a scream as Sandra lunged at him, looking very much like a pouncing lion or leopard. Her blood stained mouth, which she was not responding to at all, as though it was not there, was split wide open as she was prepared to bite into him again. Mint barely managed to dodge before it was too late. He winced as he heard a thud beside him, feeling a small rush of air which served as a reminder to him of just how close Sandra had gotten to getting him.

Mint soon regained his senses and launched himself at the blue dragon. He wrapped his arms around her neck and held on tightly. Immediately Sandra began to struggle, jerking her body from side to side, struggling to get the human off of her back. Mint just held on tighter, applying pressure against her throat. This caused Sandra to gag, and increased her efforts to get free.

“Mint! Stop this! Let us help you!” Penny shouted at him, her voice tinged with horror. “Please...you can’t do this on your own!”

Snap nodded his head in agreement. His legs were trembling, his mouth hanging open, his eyes wide in terror. “Please...we don’t want to see you getting hurt!”

“You’re our friend, Mint!” Rudy joined in. Even though there was almost nothing that he could do right now, he still stared at Mint intently, his desire to help him clearly shining in his eyes. “Let one of us help you! Please!”

Mint was tempted to accept their help. He didn’t know how long he could keep this up. He was bound to get injured again. It mattered not if Sandra did not use her powers on him; she was still quite strong and it didn’t help that she had actually gotten bigger since the last time that they saw her. She could still deal serious damage, and he was at a disadvantage without the magic chalk.

But he did not want to see them getting hurt. He didn’t want them to endure any pain if he could help it. At least in this way, only he would get the serious injuries. He didn’t know if he could live with himself if he allowed any of his friends to get hurt. Especially Rudy, who was trapped in a wheelchair.

“No! Stay back!” Mint called out to them. He gritted his teeth as he struggled to hang onto the struggling blue dragon beneath him. “I-I won’t allow...”

Suddenly a dark chuckle escaped from Sandra’s throat. It was enough to silence Mint as he felt his body temperature going down at a swift rate. He could see intent practically shining from her eyes. Just what was she up to...?

“S-So...you don’t want your friends getting hurt? Ain’t that sweet...?” Sandra looked up at Mint intently with one eye. Her smile grew ever more twisted. “It would just...kill you inside if something were to happen to them...right...?”

Mint shot his eyes open wide when he realized what she was talking about. “No...wait!” His heart rate started to speed up. “You can’t..!”

Sandra merely gave him an insane smile before she raised up her hand. Before Mint could do anything to stop her, the dragon zoner suddenly clinched her hand into a fist and there was a brief flash of light on her forehead. This was almost immediately followed by a blood curdling sceam that he immediately recognized came from his friends.

“No!” Mint cried out as he swiveled his head in time to see Penny drop down onto her knees, holding onto her stomach. Snap was no batter, curling inward on himself. With tears starting to emerge from his eyes, Mint turned to Sandra and called out, “Please stop it! You’re hurting them!”

Sandra gave a dark giggle. “That’s the idea...”

Mint looked on in horror as Penny and Snap screamed and writhed in pain. Rudy, who had been mysteriously left alone, joined Mint as he looked at his friends with wide, terrified eyes. His head turned left and right, watching as his friends continued to suffer under the power of Sandra.

“Penny! Snap!” Rudy’s voice was tinged in utter horror. His pupils had shrunk so much, they didn’t look like they were there anymore. He turned to Sandra licking his lips nervously. “Please...let them go!” He pleaded with her. “I-It’s me that you want... I’m the one who broke the promise! Please...let them go and I’ll go with you!”

“R-Rudy...you can’t...” Snap managed to say through clenched teeth.

Penny said in a pained voice, “Please...Rudy... Don’t...”

Sandra only smiled at this ‘amusing display’, as she would call it. “That is such a noble act, dear little Rudy. It’s just a darn shame that..I didn’t come here for that.”

Rudy stared at her with a shocked expression. “Y-You didn’t...? But I thought...”

“I don’t worry, Rudy. In due time, I’ll do...something about you. I make you that promise.” Sandra grinned maniacally as she said the word ‘promise’. Rudy’s eyes bulged and he cringed back in his chair, watching Sandra with terrified eyes. The dragon zoner turned her head and she stared intently at Snap. “I just have...something else to attend with...”

Mint pulled on Sandra’s head, attempting to jerk her head backwards and deter her from going through with this. But no matter how hard he tried, he just could not get her to stop. With his heart’s pounding echoing in his skull, he screeched at her, “I thought we had a deal! You promised that you wouldn’t use your powers!”

“Yeah..On you.” Sandra chortled as Mint froze. “I said I wouldn’t use my powers to attack you. But...I never said anything about your precious little friends over there...”

Mint felt his heart nearly stop beating at this. Sandra had... She had tricked him... The little fiend had tricked him... Mint could feel his blood heating up at this, his teeth clenching tightly to the point of nearly popping. He let out a low growl and he squeezed Sandra’s neck even tighter. “You...bitch...!”

Sandra let out a gagged gasp as Mint started to yank her backwards. The sudden pull was enough to cause her to lose her grip over Penny and Snap. Mint could hear Rudy calling frantically at thim to see if they were alright. But he could not see them; he was too focused on pulling Sandra back.

Sandra struggled to remain on her feet, her body wobbling from side to said. She nearly tripped over her own feet several times. She turned her head and snapped her jaws wildly at Mint, letting out loud snarls and hisses as she did so. Mint struggled to hang on, narrowly avoiding getting bit a few times. Despite Sandra’s tenacity, Mint refused to let go, tightening his grip, feeling Sandra’s racing pulse in her neck.

Then, without warning, Sandra suddenly dropped herself on all fours, raising her back and tail up in the process. The force of this was enough to dislodge Mint from her. The dark-haired teenager let out a scream as he was flung across several feet, colliding painfully with the concrete ground that made up the alleyway. He winced and yelped as he felt the concrete scrape painfully against his skin, creating several red, slightly bloody red marks.

“Mint! No!”

He lifted his head and he could see his friends looking at him in horror. And when he shifted his gaze a little, he could see Sandra standing there, once more down on all fours. Her tail swished from side to side in excitement before she launched herself at him. Mint froze, realizing that he could not react in time.

Mint let out a scream as he felt Sandra’s weight collide with him. He could feel her sharp talons piercing into his skin, drawing blood. Mint struggld and squirmed on the ground. Sandra shifted herself so that her weight kept him down. He could hear her laughing coldly at his attempts to get away from her.

“How does it feel being ridden on, you punk?!” Sandra slammed a foot against his back, making the boy cry out. “Oh what’s the matter?! Can’t handle it?!” Her claws hit against him again, digging further into his flesh. Mint couldn’t stifle the scream. “Isn’t that too bad?!”

“Leave him alone!”

“Huh?” Sandra paused and her eyes widened. “Snap..? You...”

The blue dragon didn’t get a chance to finish her sentence before the blue and white zoner collided with her. He pulled back his fist and struck her as hard as he could. Despite her larger size, Snap’s strike was enough to make Sandra stagger off of Mint, freeing him.

“S-Snap...” Mint started to say.

“No time! Get up!” Snap called out, motioning his hand to one side. “Get up and go!”

Mint watched Snap as he rushed towards Sandra again. The dragon zoner was hunched and still clearly reeling from the blow Snap had given to her sliced neck. She turrned her head and bared her teeth in a loud hiss as Snap lunged for her again. Mint was unable to look away as Snap clung to the front of Sandra, giving her a bite of his own. Sandra shrieked and glared down at him with wild, angered eyes as she attempted to bite him right back.

Mint took in several deep breaths, his mind racing. He couldn’t allow this to continue. He...He had to do something... He...

“Mint!”

Mint turned his head and he could see a horrified Penny rushing to his side. He could hear her feet pounding the ground heavily with each stride that she took. He couldn’t bring himself to respond to her and he looked back at where Snap was righting Sandra. Licking his lips nervously, he got up onto his feet and rushed over...

...only to be yanked back. He looked over and he could see Penny standing there, her hands locked around his one arm. She didn’t hesitate before she started to yank him backwards.

sss

“Penny! What are you doing?! Let me go!” Mint called out. He struggled and squirmed against Penny’s grasp, trying to get over to where Snap and Sandra were. “I have to save him!”

“Mint, you’re hurt!” Penny continued yanking him back, refusing to loosen her grip. Her racing mind prompted her to keep pulling. “I am not about to let you get even more hurt!”

“But...Snap...!”

“I’ll get him!” Penny yelled back. “You stay with Rudy!”

Penny didn’t know why Mint was being so stubborn. She was only doing what was best for him. She had seen what Sandra had done to him. She could see the bloody wounds and where the skin was torn. She could tell that he was hurt worse than he looked, and if she permitted him to keep fighting, he was just going to hurt himself more.

So despite his protests, she kept pulling him back. She knew at he would be safer near Rudy than in that battle. The magic chalk that he dropped was still there. He could use it to keep himself, and Rudy, safe. Plus the shield was still pup, floating around like some kind of cheap sci-fi thing. He could use this to keep himself somewhat safe from Sandra’s wrath.

Penny kept on flinching and wincing as he heard each thud and yelp from her friend. She wasn’t looking over in that direction right now, her eyes instead focused on what was behind her. But she could still tell what was going on. It didn’t take much for her to know that Sandra was delivering a few blows to her friend. Her heart clenched and she wanted to rush over and do something. The only thing stopping her was the fact that she had to get Mint to safety first.

Penny continued to drag the struggling Mint over to where Rudy was waiting. She almost lost him a few times when Mint nearly got free. She wrapped her arms around him, pinning his arms back, and continued to drag him, getting him closer and closer to where Rudy was. After plenty of struggling and yanking back, she managed to get Mint to Rudy’s side.

Mint did still try to take off, but thankfully Rudy stopped him. The boy grabbed onto his arm and pulled him back. Being in a wheelchair gave him an advantage and his grip was like a vice now. Mint squirmed, trying desperately to get free. Rudy held him back, looping his arms around Mint’s left one, preventing him from trying to leave.

Satisfied that Mint wasn’t going anywhere, Penny turned her head to see the situation with Snap. Her eyes widened in horror and she struggled not to let out a gasp.

Snap was pinned against the ground, Sandra standing over him with her head lowered towards him. Her mouth was split open, her lips curled up, snarling at him with her bared teeth. Snap had a hold of her neck and was attempting to push her back. Sandra continued to lower her head towards him, opening her mouth wider as she prepared to bite him.

“Snap! No!” Penny seized the magic chalk and, with Rudy still holding Mint back, she grabbed the magic chalk still on the ground and rushed over. She raised her hand up and prepared to draw.

Before she could even begin, however, Sandra had already launched her head forward. Penny’s eyes went wide and she struggled to move faster. She had to get over there quickly, before Sandra managed to bite him. If she could only move faster, she could...

Suddenly, she heard a loud hiss and grunt and she saw that Snap had managed to strike Sandra on her forehead. This caused the blue dragon to stagger off of him, holding her forehead tightly underneath her palms. Penny quickly realized that her forehead must be highly sensitive. Was this something she figured out before? Perhaps and she might have forgotten. But at least she knew this now. Maybe they could take advantage of this.

Penny stood several feet away as she watched Snap tango with Sandra. She was not able to take her eyes off. She found herself almost...entranced by what was going on before her. Snap had a hold of Sandra, and her of him, and the two moved around in circles, almost as though they really were dancing. But the goal was something far more vicious.

Sandra’s mouth was open, her sharp teeth ready and willing to tear Snap into shreds. Snap’s own teeth were bared, indicating that he was willing to bite if he truly had to. The two continued to push against each other. Slowly, Sandra was moving Snap back towards the wall and within seconds, she had him pinned.

Snap, however, didn’t seem to let this bother him. He pulled his foot back and he kicked her against her shin. Sandra let out a yelp, shutting her eyes and pulling her head back. She soon looked back at him, snarling even more viciously at him, her gums exposed, her teeth glinting. With her eyes nearly glowing, she launched her head forward and tried to bite him. Snap responded with another punch, the fist landing square against her forehead.

Sandra’s body hunched and she gave a violent shiver. She reopened her eyes and hissed in Snap’s direction, her mouth becoming part way open, nearly gritted. She raised a foot up and slammed it against Snap, forcing the zoner to let out a pained grunt. Snap squirmed and struggled, but he remained affectively pinned against the wall. And this time, with his arms pinned as well, pressed down by her claws, Snap could not stop Sandra from making a move against him.

Penny felt her blood freeze in horror when she saw Sandra raise her tail up. The ends of the tail spikes glinted in the light. The sight of them caused her to grasp her own throat, recalling how she had sliced her throat open all those years ago. She flinched, gritting her teeth, and gulped.

Hearing Snap’s scream of terror caused her to bring herself out of her temporary trance. With the magic chalk raised, she soon began to draw, moving her arm as quickly as she could before Sandra had time to strike.

But she realized, in horror, she would not be able to draw anything quick enough. Snap’s struggling increased in vigor as Sandra’s tail started to strike out towards him. Penny’s eyes widened in horror and she reached out forward, letting out a scream.

“Snap!”

Suddenly, there was a flash of green. No, several flashes. Something was moving about on the rooftops over them. A shadow moved along them, zigzagging one way to the other. This caused even Sandra to freeze, and the blue dragon looked up and around to see what was going on. Then, without warning, something large, green, and blurry struck against her, causing her to sprawl across the ground violently.

Penny looked over at the newcomer, and she sucked in a sharp breath. She rubbed her eyes a few times to make sure that she wasn’t seeing things. This almost seemed too good to be true....and yet there was no denying who stood before them now.

It was Ripclaw.

The large, green feathered raptor now stood in front of Snap protectively. Her body was arched low, her hands raised up and flexing her sharp claws. Her mouth split wide open to show Sandra her large, sharp teeth. Those piercing eyes glared off at Sandra, watching her every move.

Sandra shook her head as she climbed up to her feeth. She kept her body arched, tail raised, and she glared directly at Ripclaw. She opened her mouth and let out a loud shriek. She started to pace around, clearly trying to look for some kind of opening. Ripclaw was adamant, however, and she kept repositioning herself if needed, keeping Sandra out of reach of Snap.

“I-It worked..” She heard Mint breathe. “I can’t believe it worked...”

Penny had no idea what Mint was talking about. And at the moment, she didn’t care to ask. They still needed to get out of here. And with Ripclaw keeping Sandra busy, she could start drawing something to buy them a little bit of time. With Sandra focused on Ripclaw, Penny quickly began to draw.

By the end of it, she had drawn an electrified net. It might not be too much and it wouldn’t stop Sandra for long. But right now, they needed to get out of her and figure out a plan of how to deal with her. They were too ill prepared. She hated the idea of leaving but...there wasn’t much of a choice at the moment. It was either that...or they die here and no one can stop her.

With the net ready in hand, Penny began to rush over, moving as quickly as she could. She could see that Sandra had hunched her body further, getting ready to pounce. She hurried over, her feet pounding against the ground. She raised the net up, preparing to toss it over. As soon as Sandra launched herself into the air, that’s when Penny made the toss.

Sandra was an inch away from clawing at Ripclaw’s throat when the net caught onto her. She let out a startled shriek as electricity pumped through her body, sparkling loudly. She collapsed into the ground, struggling to get free. She ended up getting herself further entangled in it, leaving her letting out more screeches of frustration.

Using this opportunity, Penny yelled to the others, “Come on! Let’s go!”

They did not waste any time. Penny quickly drew a platform on Ripclaw’s back that Rudy could be hooked up to. After he was placed there, Ripclaw managing to easily balance his wheelchair due to her size and strength, she grabbed onto Snap and then Mint and dragged the two over. As soon as they were on all Ripclaw, they began to make a run for it.

Penny flinched as she heard a loud rip. She looked over and saw that Sandra had managed to free herself. The blue dragon glared at them and opened her jaws releasing a loud roar that chilled her to the bone.

Sandra, however, did not give chase. Penny didn’t know why. And judging from her friends’ expressions, neither did they. But she didn’t care right now. She was too exhausted, the terror of learning that she escaped having taken a toll on her. She collapsed against Ripclaw, feeling her soft feathers and muscles rippling under her skin. The friends continued to run, disappearing down the city.

sss

Sandra remained in her posture for several moments, her mouth remaining open as she let out a couple more loud screeches. Her fingers curled like a dinosaur’s would, her tail held straight out and swishing like an angered feline. Her talons tipped against the ground, ringing loudly everywhere. Only when the young humans got further enough away did she change her posture.

Relaxing in her usual slouch, folding her arms behind her back, she smirked at her handiwork. She couldn’t help but chucke. She couldn’t believe how easy this had been. She had expected more of a fight. She thought she’d have to try even harder. But they reacted...much better than she could have hoped for.

In fact, everyone did. It had been quite fun releasing her anger against the citizens around here. It had been tons of delight seeing them scream, watching them squirm. She rather enjoyed when she dropped Fido and caused him to explode, killing several zoners in the process. And of course she enjoyed making limbs explode and watch the zoners collapse and twitch in death throes. Oh yes...they all had this coming for a long time...

Sandra had all these pent up rages inside of her. She still had more; she could feel them swirling around inside of her. These zoners, all these zoners...they were nothing more than heathens. They had all helped make her life a miserable hell. Even if they weren’t at her trial, scolding her for no good reason, they were still responsible in that they did nothing to help her. As far as she was concerned, they all deserved what they got.

But though she would love to continue, perhaps find some more hapless victims and create more havoc, she decided that she did enough damage for now. After all, her goal wasn’t really to kill everyone. At least, not yet. No her goal was a lot more simple that she just got a tiny bit carried away with.

She had only been intending to send a message. A message that she was back and she meant business.

And it seemed that everyone in the city got her message.

She smirked twistedly to herself. The message had been read loud and clear, as evidenced by the loud siren going off and the distant screams. None of these pitiful zoners would be able to forget what happened. Even if she somehow lost, they would always remember the day that she had struck terror into their hearts. They regarded her as a monster, and she would give them a reason to keep thinking that.

And Rudy, Snap, Mint, and Penny... Now they were aware that she was back as well. Perfect... She noticed how they reacted to her, and she couldn’t help but smile. Rudy and Snap were especially terrified. That was good. She wanted them to be petrified of her. They were both going to be so much fun to play with later on.

But for now, she felt it was time to leave. The message that she left would be heard loud and clear for a long while after this. The sirens would continue to go off for a while, and the police would be trying to look for her. She had left her mark here, with all the bloodied and ripped apart bodies. And now that she had given them all this message, she could now depart.

Spreading out her forelimbs, Sandra leaped into the air and began to fly off towards the hideout. There were still some things she needed to do before she would really make her move. But there was one thing she knew for certain.

They would not forget this.


	12. Recovery And Discussions

There’s hate in life that will not go away.  
-Pain Inside, Adema

sss

It was too difficult to think. No matter how hard they tried, they just...couldn’t think. And how could they? With how fast their hearts were racing, with how they all felt like they were going to faint, it was just way too difficult to fully process today’s events. No matter how much they wanted to understand it, too much of them just..could not.

Rudy leaned himself back in his wheelchair, his mouth still open and panting. His mind swirled about as he replayed today’s events over and over again. He could hardly breathe, each intake of breath feeling like it took forever to go through. His dazed expression was faced up towards the ceiling. It was almost like he was laying down; only the hard surface of the chair’s back behind him gave the reminder of where he actually was.

He just...couldn’t believe it... How was this even possible...? The Speculum had some of the toughest security he had ever known in these parts. They had taken all kinds of precautions to ensure that no zoner could possibly escape. There were even dimensional cells, like where Sandra had been placed in. Those were even tougher to escape from.

So just how did she pull it off? How did she get herself out of that situation? How could she have escaped? She didn’t have her powers for a long time thanks to that helmet that was secured to her head. How did she get it off? And even with that in mind, how did she get through the portal that held her inside? Didn’t she need some kind of key for that or something?

In the end, however, it didn’t matter how she got out. The point was...she was out. She was out and free, and she didn’t have her helmet on her. She was fully capable of using her powers, and she had demonstrated that for them when she used it on his friends. The sight of it made Rudy cringe, recalling when Sandra had used it on him. That internal sensation of something grabbing on and twisting and... He shuddered to think about it.

Horror clutched at his heart and he felt a sweeping, nauseating feeling rush through him. He rubbed his stomach up and down slowly as he fought off the sensation. The feeling refused to go away, and he had to struggle to keep himself from throwing up. He just...couldn’t shake off the realization that...she was back...

He struggled against the tightening sensation in his stomach. He fought harder not to allow himself to throw up. He wasn’t really sure how long he could hold out, however. Just...how could he? This was... He couldn’t even put it in words.

He never thought he’d have to deal with her again. He thought that she was done and through. He thought that she would never be able to hurt another person again...

Well, he had been terribly wrong about that, hadn’t he? They all were. Today, lots of zoners were either killed or, less mercifully, horrifically injured, looking even more broken than those who actually died. He clutched his head tightly, rubbing his temples. But no matter how hard he rubbed, he would never be able to get those horrible images out of his head. The back of his mind would always be plastered in images of body parts and blood everywhere, and his ears would forever ring with the death cries of those poor zoners.

And as for himself... He recalled how his body froze at seeing Sandra again. Even here, with his eyes shut, he was not able to get her face out of his mind. Even before this, such a task was impossible, and now that she was back... He might as well forget it. Sandra would continue to haunt him. He would forever feel her teeth clamping down onto his neck, threatening to tear it open... Or worse, break it again...

And now....they didn’t even know what to expect of her. Before, they had some idea. Maybe not a lot, but it was still something to work off of. Now, being driven mad by isolation, Sandra is a lot more unpredictable. None of them would have thought that she’d do something like...like this...right after her escape. But it would seem that they no longer knew Sandra...

He lifted his head and he looked over at his friends. They had all gathered in Snap’s treehouse to try to think more about this. They had initially planned on going to his regular house, but the idea was dropped after they realized that this place was closer. They just..needed to be somewhere Sandra didn’t know about where they could just sit quietly and...think. It would take a while before they could think of a way out of this one, and the looks on his friends’ faces told this quite well.

How were they going to handle Sandra now? With those powers of hers....it would be hard to even approach her. Not even a large crowd would be enough to deter her. After what they had seen with Sandra today, attacking and killing those zoners almost all at once... Rudy struggled not to upchuck anything from his stomach.

And her size... She was bigger now, he noticed. He couldn’t really tell how much larger. But she had certainly increased in size since the last they saw of her. Was this a feature Mint had given her inadvertantly? He wasn’t really sure. Not that he was pointing fingers or anything. But he realized that...if there’s anything else they needed to know about Sandra, they’d have to figure it out and fast.

“Mint...” Rudy said, finally breaking the silence that fell upon them all. They all turned their heads towards him. Mint looked at him the most intently. “Do you...know anything else about Sandra...? Other than what you told us?”

Mint bit his lip and flinched. “I’m sorry...I don’t.” He turned his head away. “I already told you all that I know. The only other person who’d know anything...I can’t exactly bring him in and...”

Penny reached out and touched his shoulder. “It’s okay, Mint. We understand.” Mint smiled and then gave a flinch. Penny furrowed her eyes with concern. “The pain medication kicking in?”

“A little...” Mint seethed slightly. “I mean...it’s better than it was before...”

“Are you sure?” Penny peered down at his side. “Maybe I should...”

Mint immediately cringed away before Penny could touch him. “I told you, I’m fine!” Mint snapped at her, baring his teeth. Upon seeing Penny’s wide, shocked eyes, Mint immediately faultered, lowering his head. “I-I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to snap at you like that...”

Penny took in a small, somewhat trembling breath. “It’s...It’s quite all right...”

Snap folded his arms as he cleared his throat. The look on his face, with those furrowed eyes, showed the concern that he had for what was going on. “So...what now..?” He looked up and stared at the others. “There’s a lot of injured zoners... Shouldn’t we go back and help them?”

Rudy immediately felt his heart skip a beat at this. He and his friends had fled without checking on the others. The status of almost everyone was unknown. He did recall that Haney had managed to flee, miraculously, when Sandra had shown up. Or rather, when everyone was dying. The others didn’t seem to notice, and even forgot, which wasn’t too surprising considering what was going on. But at least he was aware and had informed them not long after they arrived.

But there were still other zoners out there. He hated having to leave them behind. He had wanted to stay and help them. He didn’t even know if Sandra had done anything to them. But he knew that...they had no choice, really. They could have gotten killed, and then who could have stopped Sandra?

Snap was right, however. They did need to soon return to the scene of the crime to help the zoners. They might get some backlash and harsh words from anyone who was disappointed in them leaving. But he hoped that, in the end, they understood why they had to leave. And at least they would come back for them and help with the damages in anyway that they could.

But afterwards.... What was next..? It was not entirely likely that Sandra would stick around. She seemed mostly interested in them. This was evident by how she seemed to focus on them entirely after she realized they were there. She never tried to attack another zoner, no matter how many had fled. And if it’s them that she wanted, then surely she would shift her attention away from the zoners and focus on them.

But..what if she hadn’t? The idea caused his mind to freeze, and he couldn’t help but lick his lips nervously. What if Sandra had... What if she had... He couldn’t even get himself to finish the dreadful thought.

“Snap is right. We do need to go back.” Penny said, apparently having the same thoughts as him on the subject. “But before we go, we do need some kind of plan about...”

“Yeah I know.” Rudy lowered his gaze, biting his lip. “I just...wished we all had some better idea on what we can do. I mean...” He lifted his head up and looked back at his friends before flinching and turning away. He didn’t like having no ideas, but...there was really nothing that he could think of. “I just... We never faced a threat like this before...”

“I know, Rudy.” Penny said softly. “That is why we need to focus on this. It might take us hours to figure something out, or even days for all I know.. But...we’ll figure something out. I promise...”

Rudy flinched at the words ‘I promise’, as they reminded him too much of Sandra. Though Penny meant no malice by them, Rudy just couldn’t help but feel uncomfortable. He could hardly tolerate hearing the word ‘promise’ ever since the Sandra incident. It was funny really... Sandra had often scolded them for ruining the ‘sanctity of the promise’, when it was actually her who had tainted it. But of course, she would utterly deny this to her grave.

Her grave... That’s exactly where they should have sent her, he thought bitterly. This dark thought did shake his very core. He had never wished death upon anyone before. The closest he got to that was with Mint, and that was just in the heat of the moment. This was the first time that he really, truly wanted someone dead.

And who could blame him? Sandra was nothing but a monster. She had shown that she had absolutely no regard for anyone but herself. She had no qualms about hurting the innocent and her warped view of the world just made her too...incompatible here. Anywhere she went, she would only wreak havoc and trouble. If she was going to continue escaping from jail, then the next best thing is to just, well, finish her off.

The idea was still unsettling, however. He would love to avoid that if possible. He would love to try to reason with Sandra and perhaps make her want to take responsibility for her actions. But they all knew that wasn’t going to work. For Sandra, it was her way or the highway. And in all honesty, he wasn’t really sure if he would be pleased with a non-lethal punishment. At least, for Sandra.

A chilling thought, but that’s really how he was starting to feel. Sandra had tortured Snap for no good reason and she was the reason he was permanently trapped in a wheelchair. Why in the world should he really care what happens to her?

...but he did still care about what happened to the others. He knew that he couldn’t just go on some blind mission after Sandra. He didn’t want his friends getting further hurt, nor did he want other zoners to suffer as well. In the end, what they did with Sandra would be something that they all agreed upon. But somehow, he had his doubts he would get much protest from the others if he suggested they find a way to just kill Sandra. No one in ChalkZone City even would be that much against it.

“I still can’t believe she’d risk an attack like that.” Mint broke the silence. He flinched from the pain of his injuries. Penny and Snap also shifted a little from the bit of internal damage Sandra caused them. “I mean...” He placed his hand against his forehead, rubbing it as he tried to comprehend what was going on. “...wouldn’t it have made sense to lay low or something? By doing this, she is broadcasting to everyone that she’s out.”

“That might have been her intent this whole time.” Penny furrowed her eyes. “I mean... She must have had so much pent up rage and anger that she just wanted to...release, you know?”

Snap rolled his eyes and let out a soft hiss. “She has proven to us all that she doesn’t give a fuck anymore...”

“Yeah I’d have to agree.” Rudy glared, turning his attention towards the ground. The more he thought about it, the more he started to realize just what the purpose of this ‘little show’ was supposed to be. “This was just a message. Sandra had no intent on actually doing much harm to us.” He licked his lips, feeling sick at the very idea of... “She was toying with us, and that attack... It was just her sending a message.”

Mint sucked on his lip for a moment. “What kind of message do you think she was trying to send?”

Rudy turned and stared at Mint. Then he pulled his head back a little further so that he was looking at the others as well. He addresed them all with, “A simple yet powerful message. To tell us all that she is back and she no longer cared what the citizens of ChalkZone City thought of her.”

Everyone immediately fell silent at this. They glanced at each other nervously, no one bothering to say a word. Nervous glances everywhere, their teeth clenched tightly. Silence filled the room thickly, making it feel as though their bodies had frozen in something. Their thoughts were both frozen and racing, creating such a confusing combination. But they were all thinking the same thing.

Rudy made a very good, chilling point.

“Oh my gosh...” Penny was the first one to break the silence. Her face looked as if it had dropped several shades. “You’re right... I think that’s what she was doing...”

“S-So in other words...She could have...” Snap looked like he was having trouble putting his fears to words. “Sh-She could have...” He placed his hands against his stomach. He didn’t say another word; the message he was trying to give was quite clear.

“Yes...she could have.” Penny said, clearly understanding what Snap meant. She closed her eyes and let out a long, soft sigh. “I think she really was...”

“...just toying with us.” Mint chimed in. He stopped for a moment to let out a seething gasp before he managed to continue. “She was holding back. She didn’t want to go all the way with us... At least not yet. She wanted to ease up so that we’d survive.” He took a moment to look around the room at his friends. They all shared the same horrified expression. “...and that means that when she does decide to go all out...”

Rudy flinched at what Mint was referring to. “Would we even be prepared for it...?”

Another silence filled the room as the friends couldn’t think of anything else to say for a while. Their hearts were stricken with a strong sense of horror, clawing its way in the back of their throats and making them all have to fight back the gagged feeling. They fidgeted, rubbed their hands, whatever else to express just how nervous and horrified they were. They looked at each other and flinched as they allowed this uncomfortable information to settle down in their minds.

They had to wonder...if Sandra was indeed holding back, then what was she going to be like when she decided to go all out against them? And just when would she do this? There was no telling how long she was going to remain quiet and hidden. Nothing to tell them when they should be prepared. They’d constantly have to watch their own backs, shifting their eyes left and right everywhere they go. It was going to get tiresome and they wouldn’t be surprised if Sandra planned it this way. The paranoia were easier to strike down, after all.

Rudy narrowed his eyes. Despite that, he wasn’t going to allow this get to him too much. It was going to be difficult, he knew. And he had this strong feeling that Sandra was going to cause a lot more destruction before anything could be done about her. Despite that, he had to try his best to remain optimistic and try to take care of her.

Because someone had to, right?

“Maybe we should visit The Speculum?” Suggested Mint. “I mean...they might be more willing to cooperate now...don’t you think?”

Snap immediately scoffed at this. “After the way that one guard treated Rudy?”

Mint narrowed his eyes at this. “I know that guy wasn’t the...friendliest.... But we have to consider that...”

“What makes you think he’d even want to help anyway?” Snap asked quickly, cutting off Mint before he could finish. “The guy clearly did not seem to be in any mood to help us before.” He raised his hand up in gesture. “I don’t think this incident is going to make him any more compliant.”

Rudy gritted his teeth at this. He struggled not to allow Bell’s cold words to him deter him from the task at hand. But he had to admit, Snap did make a good point. “If Bell wasn’t going to help us with Skrawl...” He lifted his head and he stared over at Mint. “...why would he help us with Sandra?”

“Well...I...” Mint’s voice trailed off. He couldn’t think of anything to say.”

Penny rubbed her chin thoughtfully. “Well... We could always try to ask someone else.” Penny raised her head up, her eyes staring out ahead as they glinted in realization. “Bell was just one of many guards there. Maybe we could get to someone more higher up on the ‘food chain’ so to speak, and maybe we could find someone more willing to give us advice.”

Snap gave a quick, bitter chuckle. “Oh yeah, Buckette? Do you mind telling us just who there would be more willing to help us?”

Penny gave Snap a long, hard stare. “Did you forget about Arno?”

Rudy’s eyes immediately lit up at that. Of course, how could he have forgotten about Arno? That lion zoner who had originally been the owner of that firework place... He recalled that the lion zoner had been so disgusted by Sandra’s actions that he had decided to shift his job into law enforcement. If they remembered right, then he was somewhere in The Speculum, likely working as another guard.

But the question was..how would they get to him? They couldn’t even get past Bell, and Rudy didn’t have much of a strong intention to go back to seeing him again. Not after what he had said to him before. He just..didn’t want to be distracted and they had no time to waste. Bell was not the most cooperative zoner he’s ever met. He would surelly make things difficult for them.

But how else were they going to do this? They didn’t know Arno’s hours, when he would be out, or anything. The only way to find out was to spy...and Rudy wasn’t entirely sure if he wanted to do that after what happened with Dr. Gelcro. When he and his friends had tried to get information, they ended up making themselves looking like conspirators, and Dr. Gelcro nearly hanged them, metaphorically speaking. If they were going to talk to Arno, they would have to do it more...legitimately.

At the same time, however, he still wanted to try to find Sandra. She was out there somewhere. She might be terrorizing another zoner, or perhaps she fled, and they weren’t there to see it, so they have no idea which way she could have gone. If they don’t figure out where she is soon....

Suddenly his eye widened in realization. There was something that he could do. Something that would help them out with Sandra, freeing them up so that they could help any injured zoners that they find, and hopefully find a way to speak to Arno. Maybe they would be able to learn of how Sandra escaped, and whatever other information he may have to offer.

“Rudy..?” Penny asked softly. She had noticed the look in his eyes. “What are you thinking of..?”

Rudy didn’t answer right away. He just looked back at her, and then eyed over to his two other friends. They were all looking at him intently, each of them both curious and confused as to what he was thinking about. He hadn’t said a word; his expression alone was enough to garner their attention.

He didn’t waste any time. He turned his head over to Penny, the last one to have the magic chalk. They kept looking at each other, neither taking their eyes off the other. Penny looked as if she was trying to figure out what he was thinking of. Rudy did not let her wait too long.

“Do you have the magic chalk?”

At this, his friends stared at each other in confusion. They looked back at him, still remaining equally perplexed. It seemed that none of them yet had figured out just what he was going to do. Instead of answering their unspoken question, Rudy merely held his hand out towards Penny, waiting for her to relinquish the chalk that he knew that she had.

“Rudy, just...” Penny licked her lips nervously. “...just what do you plan on doing?”

Rudy paused for a moment. Then he said, “I’m going to draw a homing bacon.”

“A what?!” His friends called out in unison.

“Rudy...just what do you plan on using the homing bacon for?” Snap asked, holding his hands out at his sides. At this, Ripclaw, who had been seemingly napping, lifted her head up and stared off at them, blinking her eyes a few times. “If you’re going to do what I think you’re...”

“Locating Sandra? Yes.” Rudy narrowed his eyes deeply. “Or did you have a better idea on how to find Sandra?”

“Well, no, I...” Snap bit his lip nervously. He was clearly struggling to think of something to say. “But...Rudy..” He took a step towards him, holding out his hands as he tried to explain. “What if Sandra manages to track that back to you? The homing bacon does have a...strong smell, if you catch my drift.”

Mint raised his finger up. “That’s right. It does! I remember the last time you drew one, I could smell it quite easily. I...” He suddenly paused as realization struck him. His eyes widened in horror. “...which means that Sandra would most definitely smell it even more clearly than me. She does have that sensitive nose after all.”

“Yeah! She could track it back to here and...” Snap gulped and shivered, not wanting to think of what would happen if Sandra decided to get serious with them.

Rudy understood his friends’ concern. It did seem like a risk to draw a homing bacon, if Sandra had any sort of chance of tracking it down to him. However, he did have a preparation for this. “I will just make it scentless.”

“Well, I suppose that could work...” Penny said, tapping her chin thoughtfully. Then she motioned her hand out towards Rudy. “But...even then, how would you go about this?”

“What do you mean?” Rudy asked as he looked over at Penny in confusion. Just what was she talking about? “I was just going to draw a homing bacon and get Sandra’s coordinates and...”

“How would it record the information? Would it have any sense of hiding from Sandra? Were you going to keep it silent? Is it going to have any invisibility cloaking?” Penny pressed one finger against the ones on her other hand as she listed off a few things. “Rudy, these are some of the things that you need to take into consideration.”

Rudy lowered his gaze a little. “I...hadn’t thought about that.”

Penny smiled. “That’s why we are here.”

“Don’t worry, Bucko. We’ll help you out with this.” Snap reassured him.

“Yeah, and once we have Sandra’s coordinates and where she is hiding out...” Mint slammed a fist against his palm. “We will deal with her.”

Rudy smiled at this. He was glad to have his friends around. It did feel nice not having to worry about doing this all on his own. He...wasn’t really sure how well he could manage on his own, really. He would not have gotten that far, to say the least.

But he was still worried. Even if everything went through all right, even if this plan went through just as they had hoped. they still had no idea if they were going to be able to stop Sandra or not. They could still end up in big trouble. What were they going to do then?

Well...he supposed only time would tell.

The next several minutes was spent in relative silence. Well almost. His friends did still help him out with the design of the thing. And Ripclaw did get a little restless and tried to nip at him and the others a few times. But over all, they were able to focus on drawing, his wrists moving about as he followed his friends’ commands with how the thing should look and behave.

And soon he was finished. Sitting before him was a homing bacon alright. It still looked like one. But it had a few additional features, like legs and a tail and of course a small camera. It moved its body from side to side more like a chameleon would, and like a chameleon, it was able to alter its coloration, though to a much more extreme level than just various shades of green and red.

Wordlessly, Rudy walked over towards the window. Snap had opened it up for him so he didn’t have to worry about it. Rudy stood at the window, holding into his homing bacon. He bit his lip a little and then, with a single thrust forward, he released the homing bacon. He and his friends watched as it flew off in the distance.

Rudy hoped that the homing bacon would work. If it didn’t, then...

They would cross that bridge when they came to it.

He still wished that he could just reason with Sandra. There was still a small part of him that wanted to do this, even if there was an urge in the back of his head to just wipe her out. If only Sandra could see that she was doing wrong...

But that was not going to be likely, now was it? She was dead set in her ways and she would not listen, no matter what they said. It was clear that Sandra had an intense devotion to promises and this ‘eating of loved ones’, and she had equally intense loathing towards them, especially him and Snap. And there was very little chance of this going away anytime soon.

Well the best thing they could do was just be prepared. Regardless of Sandra’s decision, it would still result in the same thing. She would be stopped, somehow. Rudy would see to that.

sss

Bell let out a soft growl as he rummaged through the papers. He had to get this done soon. Not that there was a deadline or anything. They weren’t really important papers. He just liked to be quite organized. Neat and tidy. Such a trait came in handy working in a place like this.

He honestly couldn’t really remember how long he had actually worked here. It might have been months or years. However long it’s been, he didn’t really care. The result was still the same. He had become quite... disensitized to the screams and shouts he had heard on a regular basis. True in the beginning, it was quite irritable. But now it was nothing more than background noise.

He had gotten quite used to being spoken back to, the insults, even giving them himself. It was to the point where even him calling Rudy ‘cripple’ seemed quite harmless. Although truth be told, he had actually meant a bit more venom in that, because...well...just how was Rudy supposed to be of any help in a wheelchair?

True, he could still draw. He was not denying that. But what had gone in the jail... It required something more than that. Thinking and planning, but also physical capability. He had his dobuts that Rudy would have lasted long in there in a wheelchair. If anything, he did that brat a favor by pushing him away. There were prisoners in there who would have done much worse to him than call him a derogatory name.

Although there was another reason why he turned Rudy and his friends away. It was not something that he would like to admit openly. It was just...he always had a sort of...different view of things that kind of clashed with others’ perspectives. It wasn’t that he had any genuine ill will towards anyone. He just felt that everything would be better if...

He let out an exasperated sigh when he heard the sound of doors opening. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes his ears twitching in irritation. What more distractions could he possibly be getting today?

“Yes? Who is it?”

He immediately paused when he saw a familiar zoner approaching him. All signs of tension left his face and he gave a small, slightly warm smile. He clasped his hooved hands together and he leaned forward against his desk. He stared intently at the oncoming person, his eyes glinting.

“Ah yes...it is you.” Bell continued. His voice lost its venom and become more welcoming. At least, as welcoming as he would allow it to be. “Dear Sarando... I had been expecting you.”

The zoner, who looked like a crane with an extra set of arms, very dinosaur-like, nodded slowly, giving a deep bow to the bull. “Yes. I have brought something that I feel you will find interesting.” With that, the crane zoner held up a small envelope. “I take it you were waiting for this?”

The bull zoner nodded his head. He reached over and he grabbed onto the note. The crane relinquished it immediately and took a step back, keeping his body low. Bell didn’t bother looking at him as he stared intently at the note. He leaned in and gave it a small sniff. He snorted. Yes, this was indeed from who he was expecting. Without another second passing, he ripped open the envelope.

When he pulled out the paper, he took notice of its pale yellow coloration. This gave the appearance of it looking rather old, when it was in fact new. He could tell from the smell. This paper was very recent, like from today actually. Which is exactly what he had expected. Fumbling a little with his fingers, he opened up the note and he began to read it.

“I see that the plan was a success. I am most excited to see just how well you had performed. I do hope you will be able to keep it up. Depending on how well you do, I may consider giving you a higher position when everything follows through.

Sincerely, S”

Bell reread the note again and again, just to make sure that he didn’t misread it. When he realized that he was not mistaken, a small smile spread across his bull-like face. He let out a small chuckle, his grip on the note tightening ever so slightly.

“S-Sir..?” Sarando asked, nervously reaching his shaky raptor-like hand out towards him. “Is everything okay?”

Bell turned and looked at him. Sarando seemed to flinch by the eerier smile that remained plastered over his face. His eyes widened and there was a small twinkle of excitement in them. “I’m fine. In fact...” He looked back down at the note, a warm sensation swelling insdie his chest. “I’ve never felt better...”


	13. A Different Jail

A weak, fallen man with the promise of an end...  
-Fallen, 30 Seconds To Mars

sss

“So there really hasn’t been any word yet?”

“Sorry, but no one has really seen that homing bacon thing yet.”

“I hope nothing happened...”

“You can always draw a new one.”

“That could draw attention.”

“Hmm...you are right... Well I wouldn’t worry about it. It’s only been a day.”

Rudy tried to take at least some comfort in Mint’s words as the older teen pushed him along the grassy plains. It really had not been that long since he had released that homing bacon. He couldn’t exactly expect any instant results in a situation like this. It was going to take time.

Still, he couldn’t help but feel at least a little worried. Something could easily happen. His greatest fear is that Sandra would find it and destroy it before it could deliver the information. If that happened....

He tried to shake the thought out of his head. He shouldn’t be that worried about it. He did make it scentless after all, along with invisible. There was no way Sandra would even realize that it was there. The homing bacon would find her eventually and it would bring back the information that they need to find her. It might take a while, but sooner or later, they will figure out just where Sandra has been hiding.

In the meantime, however, he and his friends would have to continue on with their own investigations. There was no sense in just sitting around, waiting for this thing to come back. Not while there were two dangerous criminals out there. He had to remind himself that it’s not just Sandra who got out, but Skrawl as well. While he did not cross the line to the same degree as Sandra, he was still quite dangerous.

At least Skrawl hadn’t seem to have struck yet. There had been no reports of Skrawl attacking anyone. This was both a relief...and at the same time, still quite concerning. Rudy didn’t really know what to expect out of Skrawl with him being so quiet. He tried not to allow himself to get too worried, though. At least no one was getting hurt yet. So that was a plus.

As Mint continued to push him across the grassy ground, Rudy was able to see some familiar shapes in the distance. He recognized them as Penny and Snap. He couldn’t help but smile at this. He had been worried that Penny wouldn’t be able to get in today due to personal things at home. It seemed that she was able to organize something as now she was here with Snap. That was good. They were going to need all the help that they could get.

Penny was the first one to take notice of them. She raised her hand up and she started to wave back at them, a smile spreading across her face. Snap noticed right after, and he gained a wide grin.

“Hello! So glad that you could make it!” Snap called out as he rushed over to Rudy and Mint. “We were getting worried that you’d never show up!”

Mint narrowed his eyes in a playful manner. “Did you think that we would seriously let you down?”

“Oh not really.” Snap turned his head away and shut his eyes, making a dismissive motion with his hand. “I had always known you’d be here soon or later.”

“Oh really now? You’re the one who kept complaining that they were late.” Penny pointed out. Snap gave a weak smile at this. Penny just shook her head before looking back at Mint and Rudy. “Well glad you are here, anyway.”

“It was tough convincing Mrs. Tabootie.” Mint commented as he rubbed the back of his head. “You know how she can be.”

Rudy thought back to before he and Mint left. It had been a little difficult, but it was something that he had come to expect. He was only lucky to have gotten in this place a few days in a row. His parents were going to continue making things difficult, and he feared that at some point, he would not have the option to come in here. If that happened, Penny, Snap, and Mint were on their own.

Not that he didn’t have any faith in them. After all, both Penny and Mint did a good job watching over ChalkZone while he was still paralyzed in bed and unable to do anything. And Snap was quite capable himself.

It was just...he’d feel awful if he wasn’t around to help them out. He wanted to help as much as he could. He wanted to be here for them and offer whatever aid was possible. They were his friends, after all, and he did care a lot for ChalkZone. It was still his duty to help keep this place safe. Even if some of the zoners didn’t seem to appreciate it as much as they used to.

“So...where do we go first?” Snap asked. The others stared at him. “What? We didn’t decide on a location to go to first, remember?” He raised his hands in a semi shrug. “I believe you guys had to leave before we could ultimately decide.”

“That is correct.” Penny scratched her chin, her eyes narrowed thoughtfully. “We never did decide on that...”

“We could always go into the city.” Mint suggested. “Now that things have settled down a little from before, maybe we might be able to find something that could help us.”

Rudy flinched a little as he remembered how yesterday was. He and his friends did ultimately go back to help out the zoners. Though several did show displeasure at them fleeing. Rudy had expected this, so it wasn’t at all much of a surprise. But at the same time, it did still hurt. He hated failing as the Guardian of ChalkZone, wheelchair or not.

At least several other zoners were willing to back him up. Many pointed out that they were simply ill prepared for Sandra’s sudden return and that they needed to flee in order to come up with a plan. Rudy did feel like he let them down as he was not able to demonstrate any fully thought out plan. But it still went over a little better than he thought it would, and he and his friends were able to help out the best that they could.

Thankfully, he and his friends did not have to worry about cleaning up the bodies. He still felt bad for the ones that were left in charge with that, though. That was not an easy job, especially considering that the bodies had been torn apart viciously and others.... He didn’t want to think about it.

They did, however, still help out with the injured and cleaning up what they could. They helped to console the zoners that were more shaken and frightened than actually hurt. And they did their best to comfort those who had lost a loved one in Sandra’s sudden attack.

One of the most difficult things, however, was listening to the zoners scream and express horror regarding the return of Sandra. Most of them were still haunted by her, and now the very thing that terrorized their dreams was back. Many of them took this news a lot harder than even they could have imaged, and that was quite something. There were even a few attempting suicide, clearly more willing to end their lives than let themselves be manipulated or tormented by Sandra again...

The four friends didn’t stick in this one spot for very long. They knew they’d be wasting time if they did. So, giving each other a nod, they started to make their way forward, heading straight towards ChalkZone City.

It was quite difficult setting foot in this place again. Despite having calmed a little, there was still a bit of chaos going on. Not that they were too surprised. It hadn’t even been twenty-four hours yet since the attack, after all. The zoners were not going to be calmed that quickly.

As they entered onto the streets, they could still see several zoners scurrying about. Likely looking for lost loved ones that were not yet found, or looking for someone to speak to, or even looking for Sandra. And most of the zoners weren’t even on the streets; most were remaining in their homes. After what happened, this was a rather smart move.

They continued further down until they reached the main road of the city. This was where most of the activity was. There were a ton of zoners moving around the buildings, accompanied by several large vehicles that were being used to help reconstruct the damage done to houses and stores caused by that bomb Sandra had delivered. The sight of it caused the friend to flinch, reminding them of just how dangerous Sandra had gotten.

It was just so hard to believe that...all of this had been just Sandra playing... And she had hardly lifted a finger, either. It had seemed so easy for her to do. What would happen if she had been serious..?

Their chilled thoughts were interrupted when they heard the clamor of zoners calling out in desperation. They looked around and they could eventually see the source: there was a crowd of zoners gathered around a single, somewhat nervous police man, who was struggling to keep things in order.

As they got closer, they could hear the zoners’ anguished and desperate questions.

“When will it be safe to go out again?”

“Have you found Sandra yet?”

“What will happen to the rest of us?”

“How many more of us will die before you can do something?”

Rudy bit his lip at these questions, feeling his heart skip several beats. This only served to further remind him of just how much he feel that he had failed as ChalkZone’s guardian. He should have been able to prevent this, right? He should have been able to do...something. Instead, he had allowed Sandra to escape. Why didn’t he try harder?

He felt a hand on his shoulder. He looked over and he could see Snap staring at him. It was apparent Snap could sense his guilt, and the expression in his eyes was trying to tell him that it wasn’t his fault. Rudy forced himself to smile back, but he couldn’t feel that comforted. He felt that he should have been able to do...something more.

“Now now... Everyone try to remain calm!” The police officer stated, raising his hands up and moving them up and down. “We are doing all we can about the matter! Unfortunately it will take a little time and...”

“How much time?” One of the zoners cut him off. “How long are you going to make us wait?”

“However long it takes.” The police officer responded. “I know it’s not the answer that you would have liked, but please, all this panic is only going to make things worse.”

Another zoner snarled. “Worse?! We were assaulted by that damn dragon! We watched our friends get torn apart! How are we supposed to remain calm?!”

“Well I...” The police officer stopped when he appeared to see something in the corner of his eye. He turned his head over and his eyes fell upon the three creators and blue superhero zoner. “Oh thank goodness you’ve returned!” There was immense relief on the police man’s face. It was hard to tell if this was because he was genuinely happy to see them back, or if it was because he was getting sick of having to deal with these zoners.

Possibly both.

Penny nodded her head and raised her hand, approaching first. “How goes the situation? Any improvement?”

The police man shook his head. “None I am afraid.” He turned his head so that he could look at the crowd around him. “Everyone’s getting rather anxious. I’m not really sure how to keep them calm. I’ve tried everything.”

Rudy rolled himself forward a little. “I’m not surprised. A lot has happened yesterday. It will take a long while before they settle down.”

“Yeah...you are right.” The cop admitted. He rubbed the back of his head nervously for a few seconds before giving them a hopeful stare. “Did you think of anything?”

“I sent out a homing bacon.” Rudy raised his hand up, palm face up, fingers curling inward. “It was sent out yesterday.It will try to find Sandra for us and return with her last coordinates. It’ll give us an idea of where we can find her.”

The cop’s eyes twinkled at this, interlocking his fingers together. “That is splendid! Do you know when it’ll get back?”

Rudy flinched. “Unfortunately...no I don’t.”

The cop’s smile instantly faultered. “No...?”

Mint took a step forward, appearing at Rudy’s side. “It is a difficult process. We don’t know where Sandra disappeared off to. There were so many directions that she could have gone. It will take some time before the homing bacon will find anything.”

“I see...” The police officer folded his arms against his chest. At this point, the clamoring of the zoners had becoming nothing more than background music for them. “And just what do you plan on doing in the mean time?”

“We were hoping we could be of some help around here. Like...” Snap seemed to be struggling to think of something.

Mint chimed in quickly, “Reconstruction. Locating any more missing zoners...”

“Yeah, stuff like that.” Penny said as she nodded her head a few times. “We can even try to help keep the citizens at least a little calmer, if that is an issue.” She held up her hand in gesture. “I mean...it is the least that we can do, since we won’t be able to take any further action against Sandra until after the homing bacon comes back.”

“But don’t worry.” Rudy said, his voice filled with determination. “We will whatever we can to help. And sooner or later, Sandra and Skrawl will be brought to justice!”

His speech, though intended to be short yet motivational, didn’t seem to have the intended effect on the cop. If anything, the only thing that it caused him to do was just let out a sigh of disappointment. Rudy struggled not to say anything at this point. It wasn’t like he could blame the cop for being a little disappointed at this news. Even Rudy himself was; he would have loved to give a quicker result.

But at the very least, he and his friends could still help out around here. Help the zoners out, treat the wounded, whatever they could.

“I..suppose it wouldn’t hurt. I...don’t really know what else you can do to help, though.” The cop stated. “Much of the issues are being taken care of as I speak.” The cop took a moment to stare at the group of four friends. “But...if you find anything that you think you can do... well by all means, go right ahead.”

Rudy tried his best not to allow the tone of the cop’s voice get to him too much. Right now, there were zoners that needed their help. He couldn’t allow anyone’s disappointment get in the way. They needed to focus on doing what they could to help them now. The homing bacon would return soon. He wasn’t sure just how long it would take, but..it will be soon. He knew it would be.

Turning his head, he looked back over at his friends. They were looking at him intently, awaiting his orders. None of them were paying much attention to the disappointment the cop expressed. They were more focused on getting things rolling, which Rudy was glad for. Pushing his final bits of uncomfortableness out of his stomach, Rudy opened his mouth to speak.

“Snap, you go around asking any cops you find about anything that they may have found. Penny, you go do some searching and see if you can’t find anything that could give us any clues. Help any zoners that you find. And Mint, you and I are going to try to see if we can help with fixing up the damaged buildings in this city.”

His friends nodded their heads a few times in agreement. Without wasting any time, they all went their seperate ways to provide aid to the city and its inhabitants the best that they can.

sss

The smell of bacon filled the air, causing a few zoners to look up and try to locate the smell. None of them saw the piece of flying bacon over them. Some did see a shadow, but strangely, no piece of bacon. A few expressed disappointment while others wondered if they were going a little insane. But most were too focused on what happened with Sandra’s return to really pay that much attention.

Overhead, only visible if the light bent against it correctly, the homing bacon continued on its journey. Its long, bacon-like wings flapped up and down at a steady rate, its small feet and legs pressed up against its body like some kind of four-legged bird. It constantly moved forward, going about its mission, looking intently for that one zoner: Sandra.

It didn’t detect anything yet. Its constant, silent beeps continued to be sounded out, looking for any readings that were anything like Sandra. It hardly changed direction, seemingly intent on going down this one path. It was almost as though it could ‘smell’ Sandra, could see some kind of trail that was leading it to her. No matter what, it would not steer off this path.

This meant that it had to do a lot of dodging. Several hungry animal zoners were trying to get at it. The flying bacon did not exactly have a higher train of thought, but it continued to dodge the attacks anyway, as though it were really alive. A self preservation was built into it, hard-wired to ensure that it would reach its destination at some point. Zipping and zagging from side to side, it managed to dodge every attempt for a zoner to eat it, including any aerial threats.

The homing bacon’s screen vision flickered as it noticed some movement off to the side. It didn’t hesitate to go off in that direction, driven by the directive of finding this elusive blue dragon. Nothing else mattered. As its gears turned in its head as it struggled to locate this dragon, it did not notice anything else about its surroundings. Just this one particular moving, zipping shadow.

It soon came to what appeared to be a large, open field. There were a few trees here or there. There was even a small cluster of trees a bit further down. There weren’t any zoners here save for a few flying pencils, and they did not look the least bit interested in the homing bacon, much to its ‘relief’.

But one thing did start to confuse it: where was Sandra?

It started to fly around in a broad circle in the area. It had its head turned and moved it up and down as it started to look at every detail, recording what it could and trying to figure out just where Sandra could be. It was unable to find anything in its visual recordings that could help it. This caused its gears to turn faster and it almost felt as though smoke started to pillow out of its head, like it was thinking way too hard.

The homing bacon did not give up, however. It had been created for a purpose, and it was going to complete that mission. This mission was all that it knew. And if it could no complete it...

Well it wasn’t really sure what could happen. For all it knew, it could die if it did not. All the more reason to continue on. It would never give up.

It soon noticed a rather large tree that towered over the others. The branches were spread out and wide, providing plenty of shed. The homing bacon immediately stopped in its flight and stared long and hard, its invisible body moving up and down slowly. Its processors hummed about inside of its head as it stared intently, a plan rapidly forming in its nano brain. It didn’t take long before it planned its next action.

This tree was....quite large, it noticed as it got closer. Large enough for something big to hide in. And Sandra was large, wasn’t she? Yes, quite big indeed. She could be up in those branches up there. If it could just get in close enough, it could...

Wait... It had been programmed to take approaching Sandra with extreme caution, right? It couldn’t just launch itself at Sandra. No, it had to take this nice and slow and steady. Rather than going head on, it would instead use the branches as a means of protection. Surely Sandra would not be able to get to it so easily if it just moved along through the branches, using the shade to cover itself from view. Yeah, that would work quite nicely. Nothing in its nano brain could calcuate any issues with this course of action.

So towards the tree it went. Its wings flapped harder in order to gain some speed. It only slowed down once it got close enough to the tree. When it did that, it shifted its body so that it could land on the tree like some kind of insect. Its small claws on its feet dug into the bark while its bacon wings folded against its sides. It fluttered them once like a beetle before it began to climb up the branch.

It shifted its camera gaze from side to side as it haded along the branch, struggling to locate anything that resembled Sandra, or would help it find Sandra. So far, the only thing that its little camera would even pick up was just bark and branches and twigs and leaves. But nothing resembling a dragon. Not even any blue.

Wait...there was something. A bit of blue above it. Dark and round and hard to see. But still blue nonetheless. Was this it? Could this possibly be it?

Without hesitation, the homing bacon began to scurry up the branch in that direction. Surely this would yield some interesting results. And as it got closer, it started to see two long darker blue tips. That was a feature of Sandra, right? Yes, this could very well be it. It just needed to pick up the pace and...

....No, this was not Sandra. This was just some kind of sky blue fruit with darker blue leaves that jetted out at the sides. From the angle that it had been at before, this looked way too much like Sandra. Its processors burned slightly at this realization.

Oh well, there was still plenty of this tree left to explore. If Sandra was in here, it was going to find her. And it wouldn’t take that long to locate her. So it continued scurrying up and down the branches, looking around intently for the elusive dragon.

So far, there was nothing else. More of the same fruit. More leaves and branches. But nothing resembling a dragon. It had gone up and down these branches at least twice with no results. It stopped for a moment and took another look around. Was there any spot left that it hadn’t checked yet? Any place else that it could look?

Of course.

Above the tree.

The homing bacon immediately spread out its wings and it fluttered upward with the grace of a butterfly. It easily pushed past the leaves and thick branches as it left the confines of the tree and hovered above. It began to move its head around slowly, scanning the landscape around it.

Just like before, there was nothing to be seen. Nothing of interest, anyway. The homing bacon didn’t quit right away, however. It focused on scanning the land around it, looking for any sort of moving shadow. Something to indicate that it had found Sandra. But...nothing.

Then it caught a flash of blue. Quickly, the homing bacon turned itself around to follow. A long tail with spikes at the end zipped by its vision. Yes, this was it. This had to be Sandra. Its processors whirring to life, it started to spin itself around, trying to get a full view of the dragon. It had no directive to flee, not while it was utterly invisible. Why had it been so worried before? Its nano brain could not process this.

It continued to look around, getting more and more frantic in its motions. Where did Sandra go? She was just here a moment ago. She couldn’t have disappeared, right?

Suddenly, a dark shadow was casted over it. The homing bacon froze immediately as it sensed that it was no longer being hit directly by the Day Zone sun above it. It couldn’t see anything as it was right now. Just the same landscape as before. But it could hear something behind it. Slowly, it turned itself around.

The last thing that it saw before everything went dark was a set of red eyes and a dark cavity lined with something sharp. Then, as a loud crack sounded out, its vision flickered and went dead.

sss

Sandra chuckled as she felt the pieces of the homing bacon fall out of her mouth, having been pulverized in her jaws. She relished in the delicious taste that it had to offer. Well it was a homing bacon, was it not? In a matter of seconds, any mechanical part fell to the ground while the delictable bacon wings were ripped off for a much...better purpose.

The sky blue dragon took a few moments to enjoy the flavor that swirled heavily on her tongue. Delicious... Rudy sure knew how to draw these things. Even after she swallowed, she could still taste the bacon in her mouth, the greasiness fluttering all over its insides. This thing had come at just the right time. She was getting hungry.

Though it was almost...disappointing. She would have thought that Rudy and his little friends would have tried something better than this. Did they really think that drawing a homing bacon was going to do them any good? Did they forget about her sense of smell?

It did seem like Rudy had tried to cover the smell. The scent was rather faint. But he had utterly failed in the end. The homing bacon had made the mistake of flying through a breakfast place. She had seen it happen. A shame that Rudy did not think about that ahead of time. Once the thing had a scent, it was pretty much too late for it.

It was really quite amusing how they really thought that they could outsmart her. Those stupid, idiotic humans... When were they going to learn? She was not going down so easily this time. Regardless of what they wanted, she was here to stay. And she had no intent on leaving. Not until after her wish had been fulfilled.

And there was not a damn thing that they could do about it.

Well there was no use floating around here anymore. She needed to head back and check on her dear new ‘friend’. She couldn’t just leave him hanging, now could she? Besides, she did miss his voice. He was...quite the joy to speak to, whether or not he intended it to be this way.

Within seconds, Sandra had taken off. She paid no attention to the bits of the robot that now laid on the ground. It did not really matter if someone found it or not. She had already crushed the pitiful thing’s hardware. It would not be able to do anything, not even show a single picture. It was utterly useless to her. And besides, leaving it behind did send a clear message to those brats. They were going to have to try much harder if they want to figure out just where she was.

She flew over the landscape below her. She kept herself quite high in the air. This kept her shadow below quite small, making it much harder for anyone to tell that she was there. The fact that she was blue also made things a little easier. She partially blended in, making it difficult for anyone to detect that she was even there. True, those with keen sight and a different angle would likely notice something. But the chances of that were slimmed down and besides, it wasn’t like she had far to travel before it was basically barren and she had little to worry about.

Still, she did her best to keep herself hidden as she flew in the air. She kept her flaps to a minimum, only doing so when she absolutely needed to. She hardly wasted her time thinking about Rudy or those brats. She just focused on getting home.

She didn’t really run into any trouble. This was mostly because this was open country where zoners did not really populate too densely. At least, not the sentient ones. She was not worried about the animal zoners. They were hardly of any concern. She merely smirked as she saw a few wild tigers below her, staring up at her in confusion. Yeah, they weren’t anything to worry about. It was especially amusing when they tried to follow her. A few twists and turns and dives, and she lost them rather quickly.

It didn’t take her too long before she noticed a chance in the environment below her. The desert started to form, taking over the ground below her. The vegetation lessened up and the sand and dry dirt spread about. The large cacti soon began to rise up out of the ground. And there in the distance, she could see a dark formation located high above the ground. That was where she needed to go. That was her current destination. Where Skrawl was being held.

The castle at first was cast in shadow due to the angle that she had been flying at. This soon changed as she started to change her altitude and position, causing the Day Zone sun to be ‘moved’, allowing the castle to be shown in its entire glory.

Well, if one could even call it that. She wouldn’t really say this place was the prettiest. She had almost expected the jellybean to have done better. Wasn’t he supposed to be soem kind of genius or something? Well, it still suited her needs anyway. She would not spend all her time here, but she did want to make sure that her little...guest was comfortable.

When she arrived, she brought her feet forward, talons stretched out, and she landed in a thud. She shook herself a little, her ears flopping about due to the motion. Then she soon settled herself down and she began to head into the castle.

She hadn’t really done anything with the place just yet. She still needed to find those Beanie Boys. Skrawl hadn’t exactly given their location to her willingly, and her attempts to find them ended in failure.

Not that she was too worried about that, of course. She would be able to find them sooner or later. It was not really that impossible. All she really had to do was be patient and clever. She would eventually figure out their location, even if she had to beat the answer out of Skrawl. And after she got a hold of them, she could move onto the next course of action.

She continued walking forward, her arms folded behind her back. She turned her head left and right as she imagined all kinds of things that she planned to use this thing for. Oh yes, it was soon going to have a much better purpose. Something that would actually benefit ChalkZone. And the relatively close ChalkZone City was going to be the first guinea pig to try this place out, whether they wanted to or not.

She could see the large cage ahead of her. The same one that once held Fido, but now had an entirely new prisoner. She didn’t see much at first. Just a lumpy kind of shadow. But she knew better. She knew exactly who this prisoner was. And as she got closer she could see the green skin that made up his body and those antennas that stuck out of his purple hair. And when he turned his head and stared at her with those mismatched eyes, she couldn’t help but give him a dark smirk.

“Well hello there, Skrawly boy...” Sandra cooed softly. “Did you miss me?”

Skrawl merely snarled at her. Having been healed from his previous ‘adventure’, Skrawl suddenly slammed himself against the bars, reaching his hand out towards her, slashing at her with his sharp claws. Sandra merely stared at him, her expression never changing.

“Get over here so I can tear off your face!”

Sandra just took a small step back, putting in even more distance between her and him. She smirked at his pitiful attempts of getting at her. “Oh really now, Skrawl.. is that anyway to treat your caretaker?” She grinned as she tilted her head to one side. “You would not want to starve to death, now would you?”

“I’d rather starve than be your fucking prisoner!” The jellybean shouted. He grabbed onto the bars tightly. It was almost incredible how they didn’t break as he squeezed them tightly. “If you don’t release me now, I swear, Sandra, I will make you pay for what you’ve done!” When he saw Sandra raise an eyebrow at this, Skrawl began to shake the bars more violently. “You hear me?! You will pay!”

Sandra shook her head slowly. It was really quite amusing the way Skrawl was behaving. Of course he would act in such a way. He was too big of an idiot to fully realize his current position. “You’re not going anywhere any time soon. So you might as well just sit and get comfortable, Skrawly boy.”

Skrawl seethed at this. “Quit calling me Skrawly!”

Sandra chortled softly. She did not directly reply to that. Instead, she focused on something far more important. “Anyway, let us speak of something more....personal.” She lowered her head a little as she stared at Skrawl intently. “Do you mind telling me where the Beanie Boys are?”

“Go jump off a cliff!” Snapped Skrawl.

Sandra immediately stiffened at this. She felt the back of her mind racing as she recalled that someone else, perhaps Snap, said something a little similar to her. The memory still stung her a little bit, but she managed to shake it off. “Well that was just plain rude. Though perhaps I just need to try asking in a...different way...”

Skrawl bared his teeth at her. He shook the bars as hard as he could, as though he hoped that he’d somehow break them. Though she was aware that they both knew that, if Skrawl could have done this, he would have done so at his first chance. He would not wait hours just to break himself free. That was just not the way that Skrawl worked.

“Try all you want to! I am not telling you a damn thing regarding the location of my Beanie Boys!” Skrawl twisted his head to one side. “And there isn’t anything you can do to make me change my mind!” He turned his head to once more face Sandra. His large teeth were bared viciously. “You can just forget it!”

“Oh Skrawl...Why must you make things so difficult?” Sandra placed a hand against her cheek, shaking it back and forth, pretending to look disappointed. “You really should consider your...position a little more.”

“Give me one good reason why I should tell you anything after what you did to Fido?!” Skrawl shouted at her. Sandra merely raised an eyebrow at this. Skrawl hissed lowly. “I know he was just a stupid mutt...but I would be damned if I allowed you to hurt my Beanie Boys in a similar way!”

Sandra’s eyes glinted at this. “Oh I don’t plan on using them for the same purpose as Fido.”

“Then what do you plan on using them for then?” Skrawl’s voice was even lower at this point. Sandra could practically see it sinking down. “What do the Beanie Boys have that you could not get elsewhere... What is it about them that is unobtainable in other zoners?” Skrawl frowned deeply at Sandra, his eyes glinted with some sense of curiosity. “If I am to be forced to be a part of this plan, don’t I have the right to know?”

Sandra’s eyes merely glinted again, almost shining as her mouth curled up in a dark smile. “Oh you will see...”

Skrawl’s eyes widened for a moment, as if taking this all in. But of course, he seemed to miss the point entirely as his eyes narrowed once more, still holding that level of confusion that he had in the first place. Of course Skrawl wouldn’t get it right away. So she was not at all surprised when he responded with, “Stop being so damn cryptic and just tell me!”

“And why should I? It would ruin the fun...” Sandra turned her back to him, raising her hand up in gesture. “I mean, really now... What makes you think that I’ll just tell you? After all, you could simply just be patient and wait for the time to come, and you will find out on your own that way.” She turned her head so that she was now looking over her shoulder towards Skrawl, staring at him intently with one of her red eyes. “Or are you going to just keep complaining like a little child?”

Skrawl growled at this, clenching his fists tightly. He looked ready to strike. Why he didn’t was confusing for her, but she paid it no mind. She just shrugged her shoulders and took a few steps away. She arched her tail over, forming a partial circle, and continued to stare out into nothingness.

“Rest assured that I have the perfect job for the Beanie Boys...and no, there is not another person who can fill their shoes. It must only be them. Otherwise...well... Let’s just say, I wouldn’t have as much...control over the situation. I feel that the Beanie Boys would be the best ones to turn to for this. I’m srue you can vouch for them.”

The dragon zoner turned her head and smirked over in Skrawl’s direction. She let out a few soft chuckles.

“I mean, you are the one who trained them, right? And I recall you boasting about them at one point I think... Maybe not to me, but to someone else.” Sandra’s eye twinkled. “Yes, I do think that they would be perfect, based on what you said.”

“Perfect for what?!” Skrawl pressed himself against the iron bars. “Stop avoiding my question! I want answers now!”

Sandra chortled at this, shaking her head. “Do you really think that I am going to just give you the information just like that? You must have chalk for brains if you really think that I am going to spill out my full intentions for them to you just like that.” She raised a finger up and hooked it, her tail swishing from side to side, her one eye still staring at Skrawl sideways. “Don’t you think it’s a lot more fun when things are kept a secret?”

She was not at all surprised when Skrawl did not take this too lightly. He stared to smash himself up against the cage as hard as he could, shouting at her, threatening her, trying to get himself out. Typical Skrawl.... He was quite a stubborn jellybean, wasn’t he? It was no wonder Rudy and his friends had a hard time dealing with him. He was one of those who just...couldn’t quit. Skrawl probably didn’t know the meaning of the word.

Of course, this might become problematic later on. If he continued to struggle against the cage like this and he continued making noise, what if he did somehow get out? Well sure she could easily stop him with her powers and get him back here. But she would not always be here, and once he got out, he could flee this place and find something to stop her with as an act of revenge. No, she had to play smart about this. And since she could not always be here to keep him in check, she’d need another way to deal with him.

Suddenly something flickered in the back of her mind, causing her eyes to widen up in realization. She did believe that she had something that could keep Skrawl under control while she rounded up his precious Beanie Boys. Heck, it might even force the jellybean to relinquish said information.

“I’m telling you right now! If you don’t let me go, I swear I’m going to rip out your throat once I get the chance!” Skrawl had his thin arm out, desperately trying to slash at Sandra. “I will drive my claws right through your chest!”

Sandra rolled her eyes, bemused by this empty threat. Did Skrawl really think that he was going to be able to intimidate her so easily? And besides, if he really understood his situation, it would be himself that he’d be most concerned with.

Shifting herself around, Sandra faced Skrawl once more. She watched him for a few moments, allowing him to continue to rant and ramble for a while. Then she bgan to walk towards him slowly, her arms folded up against her chest. Her ears were raised up as her pupils stared intently at the jellybean. The fact that he towered over her did nothing to frighten her away. To her, he was still more lowly than she.

“Actually, Skrawly boy...” She chuckled at Skrawl’s facial contortion at that name. “I have a much...better idea...”


	14. Further Investigations

I can’t give everything away.  
-Headstrong, Trapt

sss

Just how long had they been at this? He couldn’t remember. He must have walked up and down those streets for a long while at this point. And he still didn’t find anything that could help them. Just more deadends, much to his frustration. He did hope that his friends were doing a lot better than he was. Because as of now, he had nothing.

And it was quite frustrating. He would have understood if a few of the cops had nothing to say. He didn’t imagine that they all would. But for every single one of them to not tell him anything... Something just felt...off about that.

He meant, surely one of them would have found something, right? There were several cops all positioned along this city. It just would seem rather strange that not one of them were able to tell him anything. It just didn’t make any sense, really. Just what in the world were these cops doing that didn’t allow for some kind of information gathering? He sure hoped that they weren’t deliberately hiding anything, or...

His eyes widened at this possibility. Was that...was that what was happening? He didn’t want to think that it was. He didn’t want to think that it was possible. And yet...

It made a lot of sense, actually. Snap would never forget just how Rudy was treated by that guard in The Speculum. All because he was a cripple... But what if there was more to the story than that? What if there was another reason he was hiding the information that wasn’t really related at all to Rudy’s present condition? It was certainly possible...

The idea caused the blue and white zoner to shudder. He didn’t want to think that the cops of ChalkZone City would deliberately hide information. It reminded him too much of what happened during the time that he was sent to jail. The police men weren’t that useful back then... But at the time, it was because they were being influenced by that darn Signal. These cops didn’t have that worry anymore. He had hoped that, without the Signal’s influence, the cops would be more cooperative.

Well, apparently not, since they seem so willing to hide the information. While it could just be that they really don’t know, the way that they spoke when he tried to get some information just felt like they were...dodging the question. They were just...unusual ways of answering, which only frustrated him further.

So perhaps he should try something....different. He was aware that Rudy sent him to try to speak to the cops. But in this case, he didn’t think it’d do any of them any good. The cops just would not listen. So he needed to try something else. He wasn’t entirely sure how much of this that Rudy would approve of shifting the plans... But they did need that information, and surely Rudy would understand, right?

When Snap located a cop this time around, he didn’t rush over and try to speak to them. Instead, he kept himself pressed up against the wall. He moved his way over slowly, taking his time. He took his time, making sure that he didn’t accidentally trip up anything. And when he got to the edge of the building, he peered over ever so slightly, keeping his eyes and ears peeled for any sign of the cop doing anything. It did not take him too long before he noticed something.

There was another cop there. He blinked a few times to make sure that he was seeing things correctly. He hadn’t noticed that other cop there before. Just...when did he arrive? And what was he going to do? Even more curious than before, Snap inched his way slightly closer and listened intently.

“Are you sure this was a good idea? I mean... Look at everything that’s...”

“Oh don’t worry about it. It will be cleaned up soon enough. Right now, we need to focus on...”

“That’s just it! I mean...we don’t even know if this is going to work or not! And you know what they are going to do if they find out what we’re...”

“Don’t sweat it! They won’t find out! Just as long as we avoid the topic, we’ll be good!”

“But..what if that makes them more suspicious..?”

“...Well I’m sure we will figure out something. After all, they are still quite...young. I’m sure we can...reaosn with them.”

“Y-You’re not thinking...”

“Let them pray that they don’t cross the line.”

Snap furrowed his eyes as he listened to the conversation. This was...quite interesting. He didn’t really know just what the zoners were referring to. But he had a strong hunch that it had to be related to what happened. The first zoner did mention something about ‘look at what happened’, and the only thing that he could think of was Sandra’s attack on that portion of the city.

And if that’s the case.... Snap could feel his body temperature start to rise. A part of him hoped that he was wrong, that they were referring to something else, and that he was just overthinking things. He didn’t want to believe that the cops could be involved in something like this. It was just...unthinkable...

Then he reminded himself of Sandra, and he realized that it was actually possible. After all, Sandra had this warped view of the world and had behaviors that he previously thought would be impossible in someone like her. He had been proven wrong back then. So why should he be surprised if he was proven wrong yet again?

He kept himself pressed against the wall, trying to listen in on whatever else they were saying.

“I’m still not really sure about this...”

“Listen! We worked too hard for this! Bell will have our heads if we back down now!”

“But Bell is crazy! How could anyone possibly think that this would work out?! I still say that we should... Ow!”

“Are you questioning Bell’s authority?!”

“N-No... It’s just..”

“Quit your belly aching! We need to get going and report the progress to Bell! So stop your sniveling, put on a front, and come along!”

Snap clenched his teeth when he soon heard footsteps. Tip tap, tip tap... and they were getting closer... Snap could feel his heart rate speeding up, especially when he saw the shadows crawling along the ground, spreading outward, announcing the advancement of these two cop zoners. Thinking fast, he flattened himself against the wall with a grunt, his arms spread out.

The two cop zoners, both having quite the human-like look to them, more detailed than the usual stick figure zoner, walked passed him. They were so close that he could feel the breeze brush up against him. Thankfully, none of them really noticed him, their heads being turned away. He waited until they moved down further before he let out an exhale of relief, wiping his brow.

He then stared intently at them, watching them as they left. Neither cop appeared to be speaking at this point. But they still seemed to communicate with each other via facial expressions and subtle gestures. They continued to move along until Snap could hardly see them anymore.

The blue and white superhero zoner remained there for several moments, his mind racing as he struggled to think of what he should do. His whole body seemed to burn, anticipating the chase. The back of his mind was telling him to ‘run, run, run after them’, to not let them get away. They had made themselves quite suspicious already, and this deserved some further investigating.

But...he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. There was a small voice in his head that told him he needed to inform Rudy about this. What if he ended up getting captured? He was lucky that the cops didn’t notice him. He might not be so lucky next time.

Without another thought, the small zoner made up his mind quite quickly. He stared to rush down the street, this time veering off in another direction and headed back to the center of the city where he knew that at least Mint and Rudy would be at. And hopefully, Penny too. She needed to hear about this as well.

Little did he know that a pair of eyes had been watching him.

sss

Penny hated being in this location. Everytime she walked through here, it just gave her the chills. If she could decide all on her own, she would have just left this place. The only thing driving to make her stay was the fact that, well, a lot was riding on this.

After all, she couldn’t just abandon this mission just because she felt uncomfortable. What about the zoners? They deserved some form of closure...right...? They wouldn’t get that if she chickened out. And she had never backed down from a difficult challenge before. She had to keep herself moving forward, especially for the benefit of the zoners around here, and for her friends.

It was going to be difficult moving her mind past the carnage. This place might have been mostly cleaned up, but being here, where it all happened... She could still see the zoners’ terrified eyes and hear their screams. She could still see the bodies laying everywhere, blood splattering, staining everything... She couldn’t help but shudder at the memory. That event would forever be etched inside her mind.

Taking in a deep breath, she forced herself to press onward. She needed to do whatever it took to find information, even if it meant tredging through a rather uncomfortable place. She had a feeling that, if she looked around hard enough, she would find something here that was worthwhile. Something that was going to help them.

But she could be wrong. This could all end up being just one giant waste of a trip. But the only way to find out was to just keep going. Besides, she never really knew unless she did the investigating, right?

Her current idea is that maybe Sandra had brought something with her that would expose where she had come from. This idea didn’t really seem bright at first. After all, it could just as easily have been something from the jail, where she had come from. That’s where she had been locked up for five years. So why wouldn’t it be like that now?

But...what if Sandra didn’t come straight from the jail to here...? She did recall that it had been a little while since Skrawl’s escape that they had seen Sandra. It was possible that Sandra managed to escape due to the riot caused by Skrawl and whoever had helped him out. Although...she didn’t really know if that made a lot of sense, due to how that place was structured and operated...

Well, it wouldn’t hurt anyway. There was little else they had to go on until Rudy’s homing bacon came back. She hoped that it would return soon. She bit her lip. That thing was their main hope of finding out where Sandra could be.

She continued to tredge herself forward, trying her best not to keep thinking about that blood bath that had been here a short while ago. She tried to keep her spinning, aching mind on locating something to help them find Sandra. She folded her arms lightly as she turned her head left and right, the back of her mind trying to detail the places that Sandra had been around here.

She walked over to one spot. She recognized this spot as the one where Rudy had been when Sandra had perched herself on his wheelchair. She shuddered at the memory for a moment before she pressed on shifting her eyes to about where Sandra would have been, both when she arrived and where she’d been when she jumped on Rudy. Having gotten a visual, she moved herself down, and positioned herself where Sandra was when she first notied them.

For a moment, she couldn’t help but freeze. Her mind flashed back to that event, moving through the back of her mind and making it impossible for her to see anything else. All she could see in her head for several moments was that darn blood bath. She couldn’t help but shudder and shiver, feeling a coldness crawling through her body.

She wrapped her arms around herself tightly. She rubbed her hands up and down her arms, trying to generate at least some warmth so that she didn’t feel too cold. It took a little while, but slowly she could feel her mind starting to settle down, and she was able to eventaully resume with what she was doing.

It wasn’t easy, even after she settled down, to focus. She was soon reminded that she was not the only one in this area. There was still some construction going on and she could hear the sound of drills in the distance. And there was the fact that there was still some yellow ‘Do Not Cross’ tape all around, flapping from the breeze created by a small breeze that some child haderased. The only reason she was able to cross these was because she had permission, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t going to get in the way a little. She grunted as s he felt one slap her in the face, forcing her to struggle to swipe it away.

Once she was able to focus, she returned her attention to that spot where Sandra had been before. She focused on it intently, licking her lips slowly. There had to be something at this spot that would lead to a discovery. She recalled just how quickly Sandra had jumped on Rudy. Such a swift motion would have kicked off whatever might have been clinging to her body, and that stuff could be used to locate her.

But the question was...where could she look? She guessed it would be any of these spaces. From launch, to the sail, the point of impact. Any one of these could have what she was looking for. Her only option that she had was just... to look at each and every point and hope that one of them would have something that she was looking for. So, positioning herself at where Sandra initially launched herself, she got down onto one knee and she started to look.

But of course, the only thing that she could see was concrete and some faint blood stains from where it couldn’t be cleaned up that well. She narrowed her eyes deeply. Surely there would be something around here. She just had to keep looking and...

She continued to trail her eyes along the ground, slowly making her way to the point where Sandra had landed. She stared at the ground intently, not allowing a single detail to get away from her. She just..would not allow it. Every nook and cranny had to be explored. If she just kept on searching hard enough, she just might find something that could help them.

So far, however..it was a bust. To her dismay, there was just nothing here that stood out. No piece of dirt or a grain of sand or even a small green vegetation. Nothing to give a clue on where she had been before, where she could have gone back now. Nothing.

She couldn’t give up. There was too much riding on this. She had to keep herself moving forward. Maybe if she just kept on looking around at this same spot, something would change. Maybe she was just overlooking things. Maybe there was somewhere here that she hadn’t looked yet. She wasn’t entirely sure just how certain that would be. But... well, if she just kept on looking....

Just like before, there still were no results. She was practically on her hands and knees at this point, trying to locate even the tiniest mark. She still had no luck, not even after she drew a small magnifying glass. There was just nothing significant here that she felt would help her or her friends. It was as if...

Then, as she continued searching, she finally found something. There on the ground.. It was quite thin and really difficult to see. She had to peer her eyes even closer to realize that it was a needle of some kind.

A needle...? But why would a needle be here? She reached down and she picked it up between her fingers. She looked at it carefully, moving her eyes up and down. A cactus needle. But...how did a cactus needle get here? The closest desert was... Could Sandra have...?

“Look out!”

Penny lifted her head up just in time to see something black and furry coming towards her. It moved too fast, all she could see as a blur before something collided with her. She let out a grunt as she was forced into the ground. The two of them coughed and panted for a few seconds before they managed to recover from the blow.

“D-Dr. Gelcro...?” Penny asked once she recognized who this individual was. “What are you doing here? You shouldn’t be...”

“Yes, I know. I apologize for that.” Dr. Gelcro quickly said as he got off of Penny. “I didn’t mean to come here so quickly, but I had to!”

Penny narrowed her eyes in confusion. She wondered just why Dr. Gelcro had wanted to see her so badly. It was then that she happened to notice the look in his eyes. She hadn’t paid attention before because of how quickly he had collided with her. But there was some kind of concern shining in those eyes. She immediately felt a sting in her chest at this. Had...had something else happened...?

“What’s wrong?” Penny asked after a few seconds of silence. She licked her lips nervously. She knew that she was not going to like whatever Dr. Gelcro was about to tell her.

“It’s Snap!” The dog-like zoner barked. He gave a few heavy pants as he shifted his gaze over, his blue eyes almost piercing as he stared over at something that he seemed to see, but not Penny. “I-I saw him and...”

“What?!” Penny immediately jumped to her feet. She could feel her heart pounding in her chest. “What did you see?!”

Dr. Gelcro gritted his teeth for a moment, seething through them. “He was listening to these cops and they were saying strange things and..” His voice trailed off as he struggled to catch his breathe again, having spoken way too quickly.

Penny immediately froze at this. She could feel ice start forming in her blood. Her mind raced with a million questions. Just...who were these cops he was talking about? What had they been saying? Why was Snap watching them instead of talking to them himself? What had Dr. Gelcro so worked up about?

She tried to get herself to settle down. They weren’t going to get anywhere if she allowed herself to freak out like this. She needed to stay calm and collected, or else they will never get anywhere. She took the time to take in a few slow and easy breaths before she moved closer to Dr. Gelcro. She reached out and touched his shoulder.

“Easy now... Please take in nice and easy breaths.” Penny said as she helped guide Dr. Gelcro through some breathing exercises to get him to calm down. “In and out..in and out... That’s it...” She gave a small smile. “Do you feel better now?”

Dr. Gelcro nodded his head slowly. “Y-Yeah, I do... Thanks.”

Penny’s smile spread a little further before she narrowed her eyes in determination. “Now...can you tell me exactly what you saw? What did you hear?” She tightened her grip on the needle she had found earlier. “Please...tell me what you know.”

Dr. Gelcro took a couple more seconds to breathe in and exhale, as if trying to calm himself down even further. He stared in tently at Penny, licking his lips slowly. Then, without further hestitation, he began to relay to her what happened.

“I was on my way to pick up something when I saw Snap...”

sss

“Do you have a good grip on the chalk, Rudy?” Mint looked over at Rudy expectantly, awaiting his answer.

Rudy nodded his head as he tightened his grip. “You’re all good to go! Just keep walking over there... I’ll tell you when to stop.”

Mint gripped the magic chalk tightly. He looked over at the broken street light beside him. A part of him wondered about when Sandra had struck the Night Zone part of the city. But he didn’t dwell on that too long and he focused on the task at hand. With himself positioned in a large crane, his hand placed at the tip of the remaining part of the street light, he started to draw upwards.

The zoner in the crane was slowly pushing the lever back, which was bringing the ‘hook’ that he was seated in upwards. It was a slow and steady process, the zoner obviously taking their time to ensure that they didn’t accidentally knock Mint down or anything, which Mint was grateful for.

He kept his hand as steady as possible. He licked his lips slowly, his eyes watching as the line formed, going upwards, soon reaching that arch. He could see the other line that snaked along it, the portion that Rudy had drawn via the same crane. Mint didn’t understand why they didn’t do it in a single go, but now wasn’t really the time to complain about that. He focused his intent on just drawing this, finishing the line so that the street light could materialize.

Once it did, he took in a slow breath and he leaned back. He looked at the newly formed street light, unable to wipe the smile off his face. In seconds, the light shimmered on, bringing safe light to this part of Night Zone. It was only one street light of course, but he had a feeling that the zoners were going to appreciate this on some level.

Slowly, he was lowered back towards the ground. This time, the crane moved a little faster, and he could feel the seat that he was in wobbling a little. He gripped onto the sides to steady himself, clenching his teeth. As soon as he reached the bottom, he didn’t waste time stepping out. He was thankful to be on solid ground again.

“See? That wasn’t so hard.” Rudy said as he wheeled himself closer to Mint. He casted him a broad smile. “All you had to do was try!”

Mint smiled back at him, nodding his head slowly. “Yeah... I guess you were right.”

Rudy chuckled at this. He leaned himself towards him and gave him an upwards glance. “Did you ever doubt me?”

Mint gritted his teeth nervously at this. He found himself leaning a little away from Rudy. He didn’t really know why. But there was just something that... He noticed the confused look in Rudy’s eyes and he offered a weak grin back. He cleared his throat as he shifted his gaze elsewhere, hoping to refocus his intention on that instead of...whatever this was.

“Is there anything else that needs to be done?” Mint asked the nearest zoner.

The zoner stopped what they were doing, their eyes narrowing as they tried to think of something. Then they shrugged and shook their heads. “I don’t think so, honestly.” Another pause, and then they nodded their heads to confirm. “Nope. That was the last thing here. I don’t know if that’s everything, though. You might want to check around.”

“Okay, thank you.” Mint said. He waved his hand at them before he turned his attention to Rudy. “So...where do you think we should go next?” He paused for a moment and tapped his finger against his chin. “Maybe we should go and see how Penny and Snap are doing?”

“That could be a good idea. Except...” Rudy shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t really know where they are.”

Mint raised an eyebrow at this. “How could you not? You were the one who sent them out there. Shouldn’t you know where...”

“They weren’t assigned to one spot!” Rudy cut him off. He had his hands out, making a few quick gestures with them as his face contorted into...some kind of expression that he could not identify. “They could be... Agh..!” Rudy pulled his head back as his hands gripped the sides of his face. “I forgot to draw a form of communication between us! How could I have forgotten about that?!”

Mint looked at Rudy sympathetically. He reached down and placed his hand on his shoulder. Rudy seemed to immediately calm down as he glanced up at him. Mint offered the best smile that he could, hoping that Rudy would try to remain calm throughout the rest of this.

For a few seconds, Mint felt....locked. It was something that he could not really explain. It wasn’t that strong of a feeling. And yet there was something about it that was..nagging him. He couldn’t really explain why. He had touched Rudy’s shoulder before. So why was this time different?

Mint managed to make himself let go. That faint sensation immediately went away, much to his...well he honestly wasn’t really sure what to think about it. Should he be glad? Or disappointed? Both? Or neither? He wasn’t really sure. It was just...really strange. And it was clear he wasn’t the only one confused. He could see the way that Rudy was looking at him.

“Are you okay, Mint?” Rudy asked. “You seem...”

“I’m fine.” Mint said quickly, waving his hand dismissively. “I was just...” He swallowed nervously. “...thinking about Sandra..and how we are going to catch her.”

“Oh...” Rudy pulled his head back, having bought this explanation. “I see... I understand.” He nodded his head slowly. “This is going to be quite difficult...” He offered a weak smile to him. “But don’t worry. We will figure this out.”

Mint smiled weakly. “Yeah..I know we will...”

Mint was thankful when that weird sensation from before had finally left him. He resisted the urge to sigh with relief, not wanting to draw attention to himself once more. He was just...glad that it finally stopped. He had no idea what it was. He hoped that this sensation would leave him alone at least for the duration of this case. He could not afford...distractions.

His head swiveled in one direction as he heard a faint noise. It sounded like...footfalls? Mint’s eyes widened and he felt his body stiffen up. He gritted his teeth tightly as he looked left left and right, trying to determine the location of this noise. And why was it getting closer?

Someone or something was approaching...

On instinct, Mint found himself huddling closer to Rudy. He held his right arm out protectively while in his left, he clutched the magic chalk tightly, the tips of it glinting rapidly. He ignored Rudy’s confused cries as he looked left and right slowly, taking in the details of what was around him. He struggled to try to find anything out of place. So far, just buildings and the occasional zoner, but nothing that...

Wait, there was something. He could see the shadow forming. All of Mint’s instincts were telling him to race towards this thing. The muscles in his legs twitched about and he could feel his dominant hand shaking, eager to try to draw something to defend his friend and any hapless zoner that happened to be here. He just wanted to rush over right now and take action. The only thing preventing him from doing this was the fact that Rudy was behind him in a wheelchair, and he didn’t want to leave him alone, even if he did have magic chalk to defend himself with.

He flinched a little and he recalled that he had been injured the other day by Sandra. He could still feel those claws raking against him, piercing his flesh. He tried his best to ignore it. But though he could easily focus on what was in front of him, he knew he was at a disadvantage. If he wasn’t careful...

Mint did immediately relax when he saw that the ones approaching were Penny and Snap. But his relieved expression soon gave way to concern and fear. He could see their expressions. There was clearly something very wrong. But..what could that be?

“Penny...?” Rudy asked as he leaned his body to the side so he could see his friends. “Snap? What’s wrong? Why are you...?”

Penny and Snap didn’t answer right away. They remained silent save for their panting. They didn’t stop running until they reached Mint and Rudy. They stopped a few feet in front of them. Their hands placed on their knees, they bent themselves forward and panted heavily, struggling to gain some kind of breath. It seemed to take them a little while before any of them could even manage to speak.

“S-Snap...saw... and Dr. Gelcro...” Penny was the first one to try to speak. She kept her mouth open as she struggled to catch her breath. It made Mint and Rudy wonder just how long they had been running to find them. “C-Cops...”

Snap attempted to speak when Penny started to hack a little. “P-Possible...conspiracy...” Snap wheezed. “We need... to...”

“Whoa whoa whoa!” Mint moved his hands up down rapidly, silencing the two of them. “Why don’t you start at the begining? Nice and slow. Tell us everything.”

“Yeah. And one at a time, will you?” Rudy asked as he rubbed the side of his head. “Mint and I can hardly understand what you are trying to say.”

The two boys allowed Snap and Penny some time to catch their breaths before they continued to speak. It was clear that, whatever happened, it had them quite spooked and shaken. They had run so far to find them. Possibly all over town before they realized they were in the Night Zone section. This did make Mint feel a little guilty, but he managed to push it away as he waited for their friends to speak.

Thankfully, it didn’t take too long before Snap started to speak.

“Well I was in the city, doing that assignment you gave me, Rudy. Trying to talk to the cops. Well none of them were really speaking to me. At least, nothing useful. They were being too dismissive. But then I happened to see a couple that were talking and when I got closer...”

“Snap.” Penny placed a hand on the zoner’s shoulder. She had finally caught her breath. “Maybe we should discuss this...elsewhere...”

Mint immediately understood where Penny was getting at. A look around revealed that there were two cops in the area. They weren’t exactly listening in on them. But who knew if there was someone else nearby? And what if these cops overheard them? The last thing that any of them needed was for the cops to have any reason to be suspicious of them.

“And besides... I need to analyze this.” Penny lifted up a small needle, making sure that they all could see it. “I found it right before Dr. Gelcro found me.” Furrowing her eyes, she turned her head towards the direction of Snap’s treehouse. “We should head back so I can study this....and so that me and Snap can fill you two boys in on what happened.”

“That sounds like a good idea.” Rudy agreed.

“Yeah, let’s go.” Snap hunched his body a little. “I don’t feel safe discussing it out here...” He looked left and right, his teeth clenched tightly.”

Mint looked at him sympathetically. Then he turned his attention to Penny. He gave her a nod of the head. Without waiting, he moved himself behind Rudy and grabbed onto the wheelchair. Keeping themselves quiet and as little suspicious as they could manage, they headed down through the streets.

sss

Rudy wasn’t really sure what to think of the current situation. He hadn’t yet heard everything that Penny and Snap wanted to tell him. They hadn’t yet arrived back at the treehouse. But he still felt so...shaken and worried. The fact that they had those wide, terrified eyes... Just...what could have happened?

And just what did Dr. Gelcro have to do with it? Rudy wasn’t really sure how to take their previous message. Had Dr. Gelcro done something terrible? Or had he seen something awful? Either way was believable to him. He wasn’t sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing.

He tried not to worry about it too much. He took in a deep breath and he exhaled slowly. He and his friends would figure this out. They always did before. They did crack that tough case regarding Sandra. If they could do that five years ago, then they should be able to do this. He just...had to believe in himself and his friends. They were going to do this. It was just going to take a little bit of time. That was all. Just...time...

He slowly looked around at his friends. Tilting his head back to see Mint and then looking side to side at Penny and Snap. None of them had tried to speak since they left. Not that he really expected them to. Not after what had happened. Besides, the quicker they got back, the quicker they could be told of what happened and not have to worry about the cops.

At this, Rudy stiffened up and he took a moment to see if anyone was following them. The idea seemed quite silly. But he just...couldn’t help but wonder if there was someone coming with them secretly. Like...if one of the cops happened to notice them or something. Rudy did feel a little bad of needing to hide things from the police men. But considering the circumstances... well, there wasn’t much of a choice, now was there?

Soon, they were getting close to the edge of the city. He knew this when he saw the large building that he recognized as the hospital coming into their field of vision. The sight of it made Rudy shudder. He was unable to take his eyes off, even as his friends tried to hurry past it, not wanting to dwell on it either.

This was the same hospital that Snap had been taken to five years ago. The same one where Sandra had put him. The same one that had those doctors who came to hate Snap for a time, and where Dr. Gelcro tried to do them in. The same one where...

Rudy shook his head, trying to push those thoughts aside. It didn’t matter anymore. What was done was done. It was all in the past now. They didn’t have to worry about that anymore.

No, they had their own current problems to worry about.

The four friends hurried along, wanting to get past the hospital as quickly as possible. On most other days, they wouldn’t be as bothered. But it was too close to ‘that anniversary’, even if it had passed a few days ago, and with Sandra out....

Suddenly, Rudy detected something. The side of his ear seemed to almost ache as something rang in it. He looked around, trying to find where this strange sound was coming from. No matter which way he looked, he just couldn’t seem to find anything. But he didn’t stop trying to look.

His friends were hearing it too. They looked around along with him, trying to figure out just where that sound was coming from. There had to be something going on around here that they just weren’t aware of. Something that they could obviously hear, but not see. Was it more construction? No... that wasn’t possible. And it was moving in so fast. How could...

Rudy tilted his head up and his eyes immediately bulged in horror. He could feel his face losing several shades of color. He shook his head from side to side. No.... It wasn’t possible... How could this have happened..?

“Rudy, what’s..?” Penny asked, having noticed his expression.

Rudy didn’t bother to answer her. Raising his magic chalk up instantly, Rudy quickly began to draw. He ignored the aches in his arm or how he nearly banged his wrist a few times. Up and down and side to side, he flicked the chalk until he was able to materialize a small gun. He took immediate aim upwards and fired.

A spark of light immediately eminated from the tip of the gun. His friends wordlessly stared at it, him glancing at it with a frown, as it rose up higher into the air and then gave a little explosion. Waves of lines dazzled in all directions as something began to form. In a matter of seconds, a shield spread all around him and his friends.

And it happened just in the nick of time, too.

Suddenly and without warning, something large struck against the hospital beside them. No, not just one large thing. Several smaller ones. Immediately, the air was torn apart by screams of terrified zoners, running about in a panic, and loud, heated explosions. Flashes of light caused the friends to have to shield their eyes and look away. The heat blast of the explosions struck against them, nearly knocking them all back. Soon, the smell of smoke filled the air, nearly causing all of them to gag.

All around him, he could hear the zoners screaming in panic.

“Oh my gawd! What is happening?!”

“Creators, protect us!”

“Everybody, run!”

Rudy stared up ahead, his eyes unable to move away from the hospital that was now set ablaze. The sound of sirens filled the air, causing him to flinch and shudder. He placed his hands over his ears, along with his friends, trying to protect them from the wailing sirens, as they tried to make sense of what was going on.

And that’s when he saw it. Tilting his head up and looking towards the sky, he could see it. Moving around in a small group. Four of them together. Covered mostly by shadow. But he knew it was them. His eyes bulged in horror. His previous fears had all but been confirmed.

“R-Rudy...? Bucko...?” Snap whispered softly. “What is going on...?”

Before Rudy had a chance to speak, the ones responsible for the attack had started to announce themselves.

“Beanie Boys! Beanie Boys! We’re the boys that Skrawl employs! And we know you have Skrawl! Release him now!”

Rudy and his friends stiffened up at this, their blood running cold. They forced themselves to look up towards the sky where the sound had come from. It didn’t take them long to see the four armed Beanie Boys, each of them holding more of those bombs. They were clearly ready to strike again, each of them holding up another bomb to toss.

But something was seriously wrong here. There was something wrong with their faces. They were contorted in a way he had never seen them before. It was a mixture of anger, determination and.... much to his confusion...

Fear.


	15. Assault On The Hospital

You can make me scream internally...!  
-Hollow, Submersed

sss

What the hell was going on here? What were the Beanie Boys doing? Why were they attacking the hospital? What was the goal? Did they think Skrawl was really there? What was happening?

These thoughts and more swirled around in Penny’s mind as she tried to make sense of it all. She remained frozen where she stood, unable to move or breathe. The only thing that she could do was just stare up towards the Beanie Boys as they continued to bomb the hospital. In the moment, her mind was too locked to do anything, the world around her having come to a near halt.

The Beanie Boys were getting ready to drop another bomb. At this point, the hospital had already been set ablaze, the fire spreading everywhere quickly. The smoke crackled loudly and intermixing with that, she could hear the screams of the zoners inside, trying to find a way out. This is what caused her to finally snap back to reality, shaking her head.

Mint had already reacted before she did. Having drawn one of his laser guns that he used to as a child, he pointed to one of the Beanie Boys, gave a shout at them, and then shot them. The beam grazed the Beanie Boy enough to make them faulter in their task.

However, before he could strike again, Rudy grabbed onto Mint’s arm. “Wait! Stop! Don’t do that!”

“Why not?” Mint looked down at Rudy, his eyes furrowed in confusion. “We need a way to stop them, right?”

“Yes, but not by blasting them!” Rudy scolded him, his eyes narrowing into slits. “Seriously, Mint, do you want to make them drop that bomb? It’s going to do more damage!”

Mint gritted his teeth and let out a frustrated growl. He looked up at the Beanie Boys, at Rudy, and back again a few times. He shut his eyes tightly for a few moments, pressing his fingers against his scalp. At last, he looked at Rudy once more and spoke in a small, hoarse voice, “Then what do you suggest we do?!”

“I...” Rudy’s voice trailed off, his eyes widening.

“Well whatever you decide to do...” Snap looked up and watched in horror as the Beanie Boys resumed their journey over towards the hospital. “You better think of something fast! They’re going to attack again!”

“Yes, I can see that, Snap!” Rudy’s voice was filled with panic. He seemed struggle to think of something. But with so little time.... Rudy swung his head towards Penny’s direction, locking eyes with her. “What should we do?”

Penny felt her body stiffen as she realized that she had just been put on the spot. She could feel her friends’ eyes boring through her own soul, watching her every move. She could feel the pressure of what was going on weighing down on her, making her shoulders ache. She licked her lips a little, clenching her teeth tightly. She wanted to say something...anything... But at the moment, her voice was locked up, her mind unable to disscern an appropriate course of action.

She turned her attention back up to the Beanie Boys and watched them carefully. She moved her eyes around slowly, trying to get a good view of the area in general, where the Beanie Boys were in relation to everything, and all that. The Beanie Boys hadn’t attacked again yet. There was still some time. If they could find a good angle...

That’s when she noticed something. She wasn’t entirely sure how she missed it. But there was some kind of groove, no more than one , in the structure of the hospital. And with the way they were angled...

With her eyes wide, she turned immediately towards Mint. Raising her hand and pointing, she said, “Aim there!”

Mint took a step forward and looked up. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out just where she was pointing. “Where exactly?”

“Right there!” Penny jerked her arm a few times, ignoring the aches that this was causing her. She tried her best to indicate where she was pointing at. When it seemed that Mint still did not understand her, she called out “The groove! Right there, where it bends! Aim for that!”

Mint narrowed his eyes a little as he tried to stare intently at it. After a few seconds, it appeared as though that he understood. He nodded his head at Penny before lifting his hand up again to take aim. “Right there, you said?”

Penny nodded. “Make sure to hit the right spot!”

“Oh way to put me on the spot, Penny!” Mint grumbled as he tried his best to steady his arm. He struggled to try to aim at that one spot. But with how far away that he was, there was no way to know if this was the right location or not. Once Mint settled on a spot, he said softly, “Well...here goes nothing...” He pulled the trigger.

Penny watched intently as the red beam shot upwards towards the building. From the looks of things, the trajectory would cause the beam to hit exactly what she had hoped that it would. And as soon as the beam hit it, there was a loud shing sound and it started to bounch all over the place. It was difficult to keep up with. She and the others had to move their heads around, watching its path.

But despite the confusion, Penny could tell that this was exactly what she was hoping would happen. The beam was going in all the right places. And if her calculations were correct, once it hit this one part of the building, it should...

And it did.

She wasn’t really sure what kind of hospital puts out wind chimes, or what the purpose of them would be, but in this case, she was glad for it. As the beam struck, it hit in such a way that it ended up splitting off into multiple beams. Not as strong, but it would still get the job done. Out of the corner of her eyes, she could see her friends’ mouths drop open in shock. She remained calm and hardly reacted as she watched, having expected this to happen.

The Beanie Boys were startled by the incoming laser beams. They weren’t able to react quickly enough, and at least two of them got struck by the beams. They let out yelps of pain as their grip on the large bomb that they were carrying together loosened. Two of the beams struck against the bomb itself and a loud sizzle sound came out of it. The Beanie Boys shrieked and immediately let it go. Penny heard Snap, Mint, and Rudy gasp in horror as it fell, but she remained calm. Just as she figured, it exploded too far away to deal too much damage.

But they still needed to be careful. She didn’t want another explosion that close again. They needed to figure out a way to get the Beanie Boys to get away from the hospital. Especially before they decided to use their smaller bombs again, which would be even harder to stop. And she knew it wouldn’t take that long for them to decide on that.

“They’re going to attack again!” Snap shrieked, jumping up into the air and waving his arms about. “We’ve got to stop them!”

Of course, the Beanie Boys decided quicker than she had hoped...

“Not for long, they ain’t!” Rudy immediately began to draw something else, setting down his earlier gun onto his lap in case he needed to use it again. He flicked his wrist around as lines rapidly filled the air, and soon Rudy lifted up his new weapon towards the Beanie Boys. “Maybe this will slow them down!”

Before anyone had time to say anything, Rudy pulled the trigger and there was a small popping sound, a poof of smoke, and then something shout out of the gun tip. It was difficult to tell what it was in the first few seconds. But as it spun around rapidly, it become quite clear that it was a net, complete with some weights attached at different ends.

The Beanie Boys immediately froze when they saw this coming right at them. Three of them managed to get out of the way in time. But the fourth one was snagged inside the net. This Beanie Boy let out a yelp as he was dragged down towards the ground. He tried to fly upwards as hard as he could, but he could do nothing to stop his descent and he collided with the ground. Penny and her friends flinched and looked away when this happened.

The trapped Beanie Boy didn’t seem too worse for wear, though he still looked obviously banged up and was going to need some form of treatment later on. Not that he would allow this, of course; he was too busy struggling to get free and gnawing on the tough ropes to really let anyone get close enough to check his wounds.

The three remaining Beanie Boys looked down at their fallen comrade in shock, their eyes bulging wide. They glanced at each other and then back down. At first, it did seem like they were going to try to help him escape. But seconds later, their attention turned immediately towards them, their teeth gritted tightly. It was as if punishing them was way more important than helping their comrade.

Though they wouldn’t expect much less from workers involved with Skrawl. No doubt that jellybean taught them this.

The three Beanie Boys seemed ready to charge them. It did seem like that, at any moment, they were going to tear into them, either out of self defense or out of revenge for what they did to their fallen comrade. But at the same time, they seemed...hesitant. As though they don’t know if they really want to attack them....or the hospital.

What they did next ended up causing them all to freeze in horror.

Rather than attack one location altogether, the Beanie Boys started to split off. Two of them jettisoned towards them at a swift pace, moving in at different angles while at the same time zeroing in on one particular location. This caused the group of four friends to stiffen as they prepared for impact.

But, to their terror, the remaining Beanie Boy zipped off towards the hospital, holding a bomb in his head and preparing to throw it. It would only take a matter of moments before the Beanie Boy would reach the hospital and strike it.

Realizing that she had to do something, Penny attempted to rush forward, her teeth gritting tightly. But she was unable to get that far before one of the Beanie Boys got in her path. She had to skid to a stop and jump back when the Beanie Boy lashed out at her, trying to grapple her and pull her into the groud. She wasn’t sure where the other Beanie Boy went as she focused her attention on trying to get around this Beanie Boy.

She let out a grunt when the Beanie Boy managed to grab onto her. She gritted her teeth and grabbed on, struggling to push him back. The zoner’s grip was like a vice and she flinched as the Boy Boy’s fingers pressed against her arm tightly. She didn’t give up, however, and she pushed back, using as much of her strength as she could to try to dislodge the Beanie Boy.

Thankfully doing this didn’t take too long and she was able to start gaining the upperhand, moving the Beanie Boy back with each step. She glared intently at him, as he did her. They bared their teeth at one another, both showing that they were not willing to back down to the other that easily. But as they continued pushing against one another, Penny noticed something about his expression.

Why did he look so...scared? At this realization, Penny could feel her eyes widening slowly. She wasn’t sure if the others caught this expression or not. But there seemed to be...a lot more going on inside the minds of these Beanie Boys than any of them realize. But...what could that be?

Penny wished she could figure it out. But that would take time ands he’d actually have to speak to them and... Well, with all things considered, she had her doubts that the Beanie Boys would be willing to speak right now. The only thing that they could do was fight them back and then try to speculate the reason for the attack. She found herself looking at the hospital, watching it burn. What purpose could the Beanie Boys have to attack that place?

...unless...

Wait.. Could it be possible that...? Penny felt her eyes widen at the possibility. She was not sure how much sense that it made. But..what else could it be?

Did the Beanie Boys know that Sandra had targeted this hospital? Were they aware that she took out patients for her to ‘use’ in her recipes? Did they think that Skrawl was trapped there? And that they put him there? Was this all based on a misunderstanding or did someone put them up to this?

If that is the case, then maybe it was possible, even if just remotely, that the Beanie Boys could be reasoned with and they could be talked out of this senseless attacking. Exactly how did they think that this was going to benefit them in anyway? Exactly how did they believe that they were going get anywhere by attacking this hospital? Surely they must be smart enough to see that...

“Aaahhh!”

Penny and the Beanie Boy she was wrestling with swung their heads over to see Rudy on the ground having been knocked from his wheelchair. The teenager groaned in pain, clutching his side from where the other Beanie Boy had appparently struck him. Snap and Mint were both going after the Beanie Boy, ushering him away from Rudy.

Penny narrowed her eyes at this. On second thought, if the Beanie Boys weren’t willing to listen to reason, and if they were going to do something as cruel as yank Rudy out of his wheelchair so he’d be more vulnerable...

Penny felt her body temperature heating up as she turned to face the Beanie Boy who had a hold of her. The Beanie Boy seemed to realize the mistake that his friend had made and he was actively trying to escape her grasp. Penny did not allow the Beanie Boy to get that far before she pulled her fist back and struck at the Beanie Boy. She flinched as she felt her hand collide with the zoner’s face hard, and she yanked her arm back almost instantly, shaking her head as she watched the zoner spinning through the air from the impact of her strike.

She would have rushed after him to try to subdue him with her magic chalk, but something stopped her dead in her tracks. When she heard another explosion coming from the hospital, her body immediately stiffened up, her blood running cold. She turned her head and she saw that the remaining Beanie Boy had lobbed another bomb down, resulting in more damage being dealt, more fire and more heat and more smoke.

Penny licked her lips slowly, feeling her body shaking. How could she have forgotten to look for... How did she even...? She shook her head and, forgetting about the Beanie Boy that she just struck, she rushed out towards the hospital, raising up her magic chalk.

“Penny?!” Snap called out. He was grunting and there were a few thuds. He must be fighting one of the Beanie Boys. “What are you...?”

“Just keep those Beanie Boys busy!” Penny shouted back at them. “I’ll take care of this one!”

“Be careful!” Mint hollered in her direction before he gave a yell and seemingly slammed into another Beanie Boy.

Although Penny would love to go back and try to at least help Rudy back into his wheelchair, right now, she knew that she had to stop this Beanie Boy from attacking again. Besides, her friends can deal with both the other Beanie Boys and Rudy for the time being. If she hurried up and if she could draw quickly enough, this shouldn’t take too long. She just had to...

Suddenly, she felt something grabbing into her. She widened her eyes and let out a cry of shock as one of the Beanie Boys rammed her into the ground. Her arms were pinned at her sides and she squirmed around, trying to free herself. She looked glared up at the Beanie Boy as she tried to push back against him. When she got her head into the right position, she happened to notice that the net from where the other Beanie Boy was had been ripped through. She widened her eyes when she realized that this was the same one. Now they were back at four Beanie Boys to take care of.

“Not so fast, little lady...” The Beanie Boy hissed. Penny tried not to express shock at this; she was used to the Beanie Boys speaking in rhyme and song; she had never heard them speak more normally befeore. “Why don’t we have a nice long...chat?!”

Penny grunted as she felt herself being slammed into the ground. She glared back up at the Beanie Boy, feeling his grip on her shoulder tighten, making it clear that he was not about to let her get away so easily. “Let me go!”

“Not a chance! You are going to...” The Beanie Boy let out a cry of pain when Penny rammed her knee against his stomach.

“How dare you attack a hospital like this?!” Penny snapped at him. She managed to grab onto one of his ears and tugged on it hard. “Have you no shame?!”

The Beanie Boy didn’t reply. He let out a series of small yelps and cries as Penny pulled his ear down hard. His grip on her loosened up as he focused on getting her hand from his ear. Penny merely tugged harder, managing to make him completely let go of her. Keeping a good grip on his ear, she managed to force him into the ground.

Penny glared down at the Beanie Boy, baring her teeth at him. He glared back at her, locking eyes with her. Penny felt her mind surging with several thoughts, and as she panted heavily, she struggled to think of something to say. There was so much that she wanted to tell this horrible little....

Her attention got diverted, however, when she heard something loud. She stiffened up at this when she realized that this Beanie Boy had managed to delay her long enough for that other Beanie Boy to deliver another attack onto the hospital. She couldn’t help but release another gasp at this, her mouth dropping open in horror.

The Beanie Boy below her seemed to pick up on this and let out a bitter chuckle. “Such a painful sight, isn’t it? If you want it to stop...”

Feeling her blood heat reaching a boiling point, furious at this Beanie Boy’s callous dismissal of the innocent lives in that hospital, Penny raised her fist up and struck against him, knocking his head askew. “I’m not about to make a deal with the likes of you!”

The Beanie Boy motioned his jaw around, as if testing it to make sure that she didn’t knock it loose. He then looked up at her and gave her a dark smirk. “Are you sure? I’m sure those people in the hospital would love for...”

Penny seized the Beanie Boy by the throat. She knew that she was not being very rational at this point. But the idea of these zoners having no regard for the ones in the hospital, especially after the hell that Sandra had put them through, she was just at her wits end. She ignored the Beanie Boy’s gagged cry of pain as she tightened her grip on his neck and pressed him into the ground.

“Don’t you dare.. don’t you fucking dare! There are innocent lives in that place, you little...” Penny gritted her teeth tightly. She winced when she heard another explosion. She looked up, her face paling at the destruction...which only made her even more furious at this Beanie Boy and his interference. She let out a low growl at him. “Either you call off your Beanie Boy friends right now, or I’ll...!”

The Beanie Boy hardly looked fazed. It was as if he was so confident that his Beanie Boy comrades and himself had her boxed into a corner. “Or you will what...?” He sneered at her.

Penny tightened her grip on him. “Or I’ll break your fucking neck!”

The Beanie Boy stiffened at this before he started smiling again. “Oh like you can...” He was stopped when Penny tightened her grip even further.

“I spend hours helping my mom out with the animals. It is amazing how much strength you gain from having to carry around large bags of feed about three to four times a day. Bags, which I may add, often weigh little over half the weight that I do...” Penny narrowed her eyes dangerously. “So don’t you dare think, for one moment, that I can’t make your neck, as the saying goes, ‘squeal like a piggy’...”

The Beanie Boy took in a sharp intake of breath. He swallowed nervously. “Y-You wouldn’t...”

Penny gave a bitter chuckle and bared her teeth. “Why don’t you try me...?”

The Beanie Boy widened his eyes at this, clearly horrified.

Penny struggled to push aside the nagging feeling in her chest as she focused on glaring down at the zoner below her. She tightened her grip on his neck a little to show him just how serious she was. She bared her teeth at him in an almost maniacal manner. She made sure to show no signs of letting up, ensuring that the Beanie Boy was placed in a rather tough position.

He had to make a choice now. He could either continue this foolishness and likely get hurt. Or he could pack up and leave and at least he would be in tact. Either way, Penny would get some form of victory out of it.

Wait..what was she doing...?

Before she had time to fully understand just what had happened, the Beanie Boy below her let out a scream of fear. He started to struggle away from her, trying to get himself free. She could see that his expression from before was replaced with pure horror. Something about this caused her heart to clench. She tried to ignore it, keeping her glare on. But she could feel her body shaking harder and harder as emotion swept through her.

“P-Please...don’t hurt me!” The Beanie Boy whimpered, having lost all his courage previously. “I-I’ll do anything... J-Just don’t hurt me...” He cringed away from her, turning his head to the side and gritting his teeth, his face scrunching up as he prepared for another blow from her. “Please...just let me go...”

Penny struggled to keep her frown on even though at this point, she was being torn up inside. A part of her just wanted to strike him for daring to ask her for mercy after what he did. But on the other hand, was she really that much better than him by threatening him like this?

Well, sometimes things just have to be done. And if this got him to surrender...

Penny exhaled slowly, her breath having a growly edge to it. “All right then... I’ll let you go.” She raised herself up. “Call off your friends and you may go.”

The Beanie Boy didn’t say anything right away. He just stared up at her, as though expecting her to strike him at any second, regardless of what he did. Penny took advantage of this and hissed at him, suddenly jerking her head towards him as if she was about to bite.

The Beanie Boy let out a shout of fear at this and he nodded his head up and down rapidly. “S-S-Sure! Whatever you say!”

Penny smirked at him. “Good... “ She did not release the Beanie Boy right away. She knew full well that she still needed him as a trump card. If she released him now, he might go back on his word and attack. No, she’d wait until the Beanie Boy did she wanted, and then she will let him go after he is the only one left. Then he’d have no choice but to flee.

The Beanie Boy licked his lips slowly before he turned his head to look at his comrades. Taking one more fearful look at Penny, the Beanie Boy called out, “Stop! All of you, stop! Abort the mission! I repeat! Abort the mission!”

At this, the Beanie Boys stopped what they were doing. The one that was bombing the hospital ceased carrying out his next bomb attack while staring down at him, his eyes widened in shock. Penny turned her head and she could see the ones harrassing her friends had frozen as well, stopping in midstrike, their hands loosening from the front of her friends’ shirts.

Silence spread throughout as nobody dared to make a move. Even breathing seemed quite hard to do as they stared at each other, watching one another carefully, waiting for someone to make a move. No one did, out of fear that someone else was going to try something.

Penny flinched as she saw the way that her friends were looking at her. They all looked horrified and shocked, clearly seeing just how she was holding onto the Beanie Boy. Penny tried not to let it get to her as she focused on trying to discourage the Beanie Boys from attacking. She could see the way they were looking at her. She opted to squeeze the neck of the Beanie Boy below her harder, even if this made her look like some kind of deranged monster in the eyes of her friends.

The remaining Beanie Boys did still look like they were going to attack. But seeing how she was squeezing their leader’s neck seemed to give them pause. It was clear that they weren’t interested in losing one of their own, as if their fear for Skrawl was making them more determined to stay together.

After what felt like several minutes, Penny finally noticed a change. The flying zoners, though obviously disgruntled by this turn of events, seemed to start to give in. They released her friends and stopped what they were doing. They glared at her long and hard, looking as though they were ready to tear into her at any moment. But instead of attacking, they did what their leader said and they left.

Penny watched as they went. She was a little surprised that they had gone; she would have expected more of a fight. This further supported her theory that they were only concerned for Skrawl’s safety, and they hadn’t actually been serious in attacking.

She frowned a little at this. She looked at the hospital, biting her lip. Well serious or not, they did still do a lot of damage. And if they were worried about Skrawl, shouldn’t they have thought better than to attack the building like that? Unless they didn’t think that he was in there and this was just to make them relinquish the information.

After the three Beanie Boys left, Penny finally allowed the fourth one to flee. Unlike the others, this one didn’t glare at her. He only stared at her fearfully. He moved away from her, moving backwards, keeping his eyes on her. He moved his hands to his face, biting on a few of his nails. Then, after a few seconds, he turned to flee. He disappeared rather quickly.

It wasn’t until he was gone that she was suddenly stricken with guilt. It came out of nowhere. A wall just smashing into her. She could feel herself getting weak, her legs and arms wobbling. Realization struck her, and she could feel her eyes widening in horror.

D-Did she really just...? Oh gawd, she did...

She had threatened to break a zoner’s neck.

H-How... How could she do something like that? Especially when Rudy had suffered through that himself? She remembered the pain and agony that he was in, the fear that had struck him. How could she have threatened to do that to another living being? How could... She just...

“Wow... Penny.. I never thought that you’d...”

“That was something, Buckette!”

“Were you really going to...?”

Penny lifted her head up and she looked over at her friends. She could see the looks on their faces, the way they wouldn’t stop staring at her. She licked her lips slowly, her mind spinning around in circles. She replayed what she did over and over, accompanying that with a mental overlay of her friends’ faces. Slowly, she attempted to smile, trying to lighten the mood a little.

She failed miserably. She could feel her mouth corners dropping, and she couldn’t stop her shaking. With the full force of realization striking her, she shut her eyes and lowered her head. She started to cry, allowing her tears to spill down her face.

She expected her friends to leave her. But instead, something else happened. They came close to her. She could feel Mint’s arms wrapping around her and pulling her close. She coul feel Snap’s arms as well. And then she was pulled over towards what she guessed was Rudy’s wheelchair and he joined in as well. Warm arms embraced all around her, refusing to let go. Penny only struggled for a brief second before she gave in and leaned in against her friends.

She took a look over at the hospital, biting her lip. It was going to need to be fixed, she knew. There was no doubt about it. They weren’t going to leave any time soon. She could hear the sirens wailing as the fire department responding to the scene.

But, at least for a couple of seconds, she wanted to cling to her friends. She needed to regain her composure before she could do anything. But she hoped that, regardless of what happens, the situation would soon be brought under control.

sss

Mint wiped his brow as the last injured patient was finally aboard the ambulance. He shut the door, a loud thud sounding out, and watched as the ambulance started to head down, its sirens wailing loudly. He then turned his attention back towards the hospital and bit his lip tightly.

Those Beanie Boys did not do as much damage as it seemed. It looked horrible on the outside, but the fires did not reach the inside for the most part. Well almost. There were some places that did have some fire issues going on. They had witnessed at least one zoner falling out of the window, trying to escape.

But at least the damage was a little more minimalized. It wasn’t as terrible as it could have been, which put them at all at ease. They were able to easily focus on moving whatever injured there were, and the few dead that resulted from the attack. The other patients were still evacuated as worker zoners came in to try to fix the place up. But all in all, it wasn’t too bad.

He looked over to see how his friends were doing. Rudy, being in a wheelchair, had a more difficult time offering help the way that he usually would. At least these zoners seemed more willing to accept his help and didn’t push him away like Bell did. They permitted Rudy to try to do what he oculd to help, which he did, through drawing various tools and such that the zoners could use.

Snap was going around, talking with any shaken doctors that were still in shock of what happened. Mint couldn’t help but smile at this. He was certain that some of these doctors had mistreated Snap before, but even in spite of that, Snap was still willing to try to cheer them up. This spoke a lot about Snap’s personality.

Penny, after she had recovered from the initial shock, was inside the building somewhere, doing internal repairs the best that she could He wasn’t really sure what her progress was, but he had a feeling that she was doing quite well. She was smart, after all. Doing repairs like this should be a piece of cake for her. He imagined that she would be out soon enough.

Having nothing left to do, Mint went over to the curb around the front of the hospital. He settled himself down and soon rested there. He splayed his legs to the side and he tapped his finger against the concrete.

What were they going to do right after this? Their plans had gotten a little muddled. He wasn’t sure if they all still planned on testing that needle Penny mentioned, or if they were going to go after the Beanie Boys. It was difficult to say. They hadn’t actually talked about it or anything. It could go either way.

Well whatever they ended up doing, he was all for it. He was certain that they’d end up doing both. And either one could lead them to Skrawl, one of the two that they were looking for. So long as they got both...

His mind once more shifted to the Beanie Boys. He could feel his body temperature rising up as he remembered just how they had behaved. He had seen them do disgusting things before, but this was one of the worst. He narrowed his eyes and he clenched his teeth tightly, grinding them together. It was the only thing he could do to keep from screaming.

Just..what the fuck did they think that they were doing? How could they have attacked a hospital like that? And for what? A boss who wasn’t even there? Did they even bother to check? If they were so worried about him, one would think that they would have went about it in a different, safer way. But no, these guys were just a bunch of idiots.

But then he remembered something. This was something that even his friends had noticed. The Beanie Boys had looked terrified. More so than one might expect of them. This did seem strange, as very rarely did the Beanie Boys ever show fear. So for them to be so fearful this timea round, it had to have meant that there was something big going on. What could scare them so much?

Well, there was Sandra. She was a rather terrifying individual. She might have put them up to this. It did make sense after all. He could easily see her going through the trouble of setting this up just to get back at them. Typical Sandra. She...

Mint suddenly inhaled sharply, his eyes bulging. He struggled to breathe, but he couldn’t even exhale. His whole body just became stiff, almost like ice. There was just nothing that he could do to get himself to move. It was as if his muscles had all locked and turned to absolute stone. He wasn’t even ware of his friends approaching him, and he certainly didn’t see Penny coming out of the hospital, until he felt a hand on his shoulder.

Mint jerked at this touch, and felt a sense of relief that he was no longer trapped in that position. But he was still terrified. He looked around at his friends, looking at their expressions one at a time. He licked his lips slowly, turning his gaze down low. He tried to think of just what to say to them. He wasn’t even sure how to put this to words. But he had to speak sooner or later. He couldn’t leave his friends in the dark. He...

“Mint... what’s wrong?” Snap asked gently, reaching over and placing a hand on his arm. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah you look kinda sick.” Penny placed the back of her hand against his forehead. She soon pulled it back. “You don’t feel that warm.”

Rudy wheeled his way to Mint’s side. Mint could feel part of the wheelchair just barely touching his skin. He looked down to see that not only did the wheelchair press against him, but Rudy’s hand had been placed over his in a comforting manner. Mint lifted his head and gazed down at Rudy, locking eyes with him.

Seeing his friends look at him in a similar manner as Rudy did help Mint calm down enough to get himself to speak. Well not right away at first. He just took in a few slow breaths, trying to relax himself further, before he attempted to speak.

“I-I just thought of something, you guys.” Mint spoke. Despite his attempts to be calm, he was still a little shaky in his voice. “Wh-What if Sandra was the one who had freed Skrawl...?” The question had the impact that he had expected it would.

Rudy, Penny, and Snap looked at each other, their eyes wide, horror plastered over their faces. They couldn’t even get themselves to speak; they were too busy exchanging looks of shock with each other, no one able to believe just what they were hearing.

But if it was true that Sandra and Skrawl were working together.. If it was true that they were involved together in this somehow.... This only increased the urgency. Skrawl and Sandra together... That would be disasterous. Instead of just one dragon, now they had a gaint one they needed to worry about. Okay, not literally, but that’s what it’s going to feel like.

Mint shuddered as he remembered what Skrawl did to him, and what Skrawl had nearly accomplished. And he knew full well what Sandra had done. He’d never forget that. The idea of the two of them working together... He couldn’t even begin to imagine what they were capable of.

“Guys...” Penny spoke up, breaking the tense silence. “I know that we are all worried. But..we have to get back to the treehouse and analyze this needle.” She lifted it up, pressed in between her fingers. “If we find Sandra, and if Skrawl is with her, we will find both of them.”

The friends looked at each other and nodded wordlessly. They kenw that Penny was right. Without further need of discussion and knowing that the hospital could pick up from here, they began to head towards the treehouse once more, hoping to get an analysis on that needle and fast. The sooner they found Sandra, the better.

sss

It was strange how time sometimes didn’t seem like it was passing at all. Sometimes, things so similar can happen and it made it seem as if the day was exactly the same, like everything in between was just part of some kind of daydream.

At least, that’s what Penny was experiencing now. Once more, she had found herself in a situation where she was analyzing something of great importance while her friends waited for her.

She looked over and she could see them sitting on whatever was available. Though they did not look as relaxed as before. They were fidgeting, clearly looking anxious. They didn’t stare at her as they didn’t want to disturb her. But she could see just how tense they all were, how impatient they were for result. And of course, there was Ripclaw, nibbling on Mint’s hair again. Though this time, he was too worried about this current problem to really care about what Ripclaw did. That just showed the seriousness of this situation.

Penny worked as fast as she could. She didn’t want to waste any time. She didn’t want to give Sandra a chance to get too far away before they could get a step closer to where she has been. All she had to do was analyze this needle and she could figure out where it had come from.

It would take some time, however. Just...time. Even with these things that she drew, like straight out of a chemistry set, she still needed some time to analyze this properly. She did not want to speed things up for the sake of time. It might be important, but..that was the very reason why they could not speed this along. They needed to be as accurate as possible, otherwise they could make a huge mistake.

After going through a few chemical tests, she then sliced the needle and put it underneath a microscope. She peered at it closely, trying to look at all the details inside, trying to see if she could pinpoint exactly what this...

...wait a minute... Was it possible that...? Was she looking at this wrong...?

No, there was no way that she could. She would know this thing quite well. Especially considering that she had been there before, albeit against her will, and had gotten a few needles stuck in her as she got into that place. The very memory of it made her shudder and she didn’t want to think that this is where they needed to go. But....the analysis didn’t lie.

She could retake the testing over and over. She could try to get a different kind of result all that she wanted to. She could break more sweat and try other experimentations if she wanted to. But in the end, no matter what, she was going to get the same result. There was just no getting around it, no matter how much she wanted to believe it.

The needle originated from the same desert that she had been taken to, back when Skrawl had tried to make her his Chalk Queen.


	16. All A Part Of The Plan

I find a sense of satisfaction.  
-Darker Side Of Me, The Veer Union

sss

Skrawl had no idea just what Sandra was so darn happy about. There was nothing to celebrate here. What she should be doing is trying to cut her losses and figure something else out that she can do. Something that was going to turn things around for her.

Not that he cared anyway. He was a prisoner of hers. He could care less if she failed or not. But he would think that she herself would give some kind of fuck about how things were going. Did she not realize that she had just made things far worse for herself? Did she not care that she may have just ruined her one chance at getting back at Rudy and his miserable friends?

And yet... he did not see an ounce of worry in her eyes. She was just smirking all the way. Smiling from ear to ear, like this was the best news that she ever could have come up with. He couldn’t help but roll his eyes at this. If she could not figure out a way to get him to tell her about the Beanie Boys, what in the world made her think that she could accomplish anything else?

He knew that she didn’t figure out a damn thing for the Beanie Boys, or anything to make him more liable to obey her. He knew this because despite what she said before, she never actually carried out anything. This most likely meant that she really didn’t know what she was going to do and she was just trying to scare him, hoping that he’d cave in or something.

Well it wasn’t going to happen. She could try all she wanted to. He would never cave in and let her use his Beanie Boys. They were his, after all. His only, his to control. No one else was allowed to boss them around, and he would be damned if he allowed anything to change that.

His mismatched eyes continued to follow Sandra as she paced back and forth, her arms folded behind her back. He couldn’t help but let out an irritated growl at this. How many times had she paced around here? Too many. He could feel his ears aching from how much her feet and talons were hitting against the ground. It wasn’t so bad at first, but as it just kept on going and going....

Sandra at last seemed to stop. She remained positioned several feet away, her head tilted upwards. Her tail swished from side to side, her eyes looking towards what seemed like nothing in particular. Skrawl grumbled to himself on just how weird Sandra was being. Sure he himself had some weird habits, but this was just...

At last, Skrawl just couldn’t take it anymore. He had to speak up now, otherwise he wasn’t really sure what he was going to do. “You know, you hadn’t really had much of a success.”

This finally made Sandra stop pacing. Skrawl let out a sigh of relief as the tapping and thudding finally left his ears. But they were soon replaced with confusion as he noticed the way Sandra was looking at him. No sign of anger or even much emotion, despite the smile. She was just looking at him, as though mostly curious.

“Oh really now? Is that so?” Sandra asked. She gave a short pause. Skrawl was not able to think of a response before Sandra turned herself all the way around and looked at him intently. “Exactly what makes you say that?”

Skrawl spluttered. Was she joking? Did she seriously not see the problem? Or was she pretending, just wanting to drive him insane? If that is the case, then she was certainly doing a good job on that. He struggled not to let his teeth grind together too much before he gave his response.

“It should be quite clear! You just...released utter chaos into ChalkZone! Even I am not dumb enough to do that!” Skrawl flinched as he realized he had just insulted himself. He shook his head a little to recover and he continued, “Now they know you are out and they are going to build up a defense and you won’t be able to...”

“And that is going to be a problem how?” Sandra tilted her head to one side, grinning broadly at Skrawl. “You know about my powers, Skrawl. They won’t be able to do much.” She turned her head, her eyes facing backwards, grinning darkly. “They will only be sealing their fates...”

“And what of Rudy and his bratty friends?!” Skrawl raised his hands up at his sides, his claws spread out. “They are going to try their damnest to find you now! If you had just tried to keep a low profile, you might have been able to hide for a while, come up with a better plan, and unleash your fury on them!” Skrawl slapped himself in the face, shaking it. “I just..never thought you’d be so stupid..”

Sandra didn’t seem to flinch at all at the ‘stupid’ comment. She just continued to smile. A low chortle was unleashed through her mouth. “I had actually wanted that to happen.”

Skrawl immediately froze. “What...?”

Sandra smirked at him. “I wanted to make a scene so that they would try to find me.” She pulled something out from between her sharp teeth. Bacon? Hamburger? It was difficult to tell from this distance. “I wanted to ensure that they would try to follow me. I have a surprise waiting for them.”

Skrawl stared at her long and hard for several seconds. “So...this was all...”

Sandra cut him off, finishing what he was about to say. “All a part of the plan, yes.” She picked at her teeth with another feather finger. “You see...” She flicked off what looked like a piece of food. “I am a lot more clever than you give me credit for...”

“Oh really now?” Skrawl narrowed his eyes at this. On the one hand, it did seem clever. But on the other, it was still risky. He wondered just how far she had planned ahead for this. “Okay then...” He raised his hand up, making a sideways gesture. “And just what will happen afterwards? What is the next step that you have in mind?”

Sandra simply remained silent. Skrawl gritted his teeth at this. This hadn’t been the first time that Sandra had pulled the silent treatment on him. And he was quite frankly tired of it. If Sandra didn’t tell him what he wanted...

He gave out an exasperated sigh. What was the point, really? It wasn’t like she was going to tell him anything. As much as he hated to admit it, he really was under her control right now. There was not a blasted thing that he could do to get her to do what he wanted. Even the act of getting out of this cage was not an option. Like hell she was going to release him so easily. All he could do was just glare at her while she walked away, that smug smirk clearly spread across her face.

Skrawl snorted as she disappeared down the hallway. Off to do...whatever it is that she does. He never really knows where she disappears to after she speaks with him. And frankly, he didn’t care. He was enjoying, on some level, some of the time that he had to himself. At least he didn’t have to stare at her ugly mug anymore. For now.

He still could not believe that he had been dumb enough to agree to help her. That had been a trap the whole time, and he should have known. Why didn’t he pick up on it sooner? How could he have been so stupid?

He seethed through his mouth as he breathed heavily, trying to get himself to calm down. He reminded himself over and over that there really wasn’t much that he could do right now. He was trapped here with no way out. He will just have to be patient and wait. A time would come when he could be able to escape this hell and he would be able to break free of Sandra’s control.

And when that happened, he would give Sandra the ‘payback’ that she deserved. He smiled twistedly at the thought. Yes, he would make sure that she was sorry that she ever screwed with him.

sss

Why hadn’t she made a move against that stupid jellybean yet? She had planned for it. It was what she was going to do in order to obtain the information from him. She had it all planned out in her head. She could just see it now...

So why didn’t she do it?

Sandra wasn’t sure if she would ever figure it out. She decided to chalk it up to just...being distracted. Because quite honestly, the Beanie Boys had been mostly a secondary thought to her mind. Not of as great an importance. Her main focus was...well cliche, but quite affective. She was busy planning her revenge against those meddlers who had gotten in her way five years ago.

Of course, anyone who knew her well enough would have known this. That had taken top priority in her mind and she was fully intent on carrying it out. Just..not yet. It had to be perfected first. She couldn’t just waltz out there all willy nilly without some sort of plan. Otherwise... well, wouldn’t she just cause herself unnecessary trouble? That was the last thing that she wanted to do to herself. She was not about to go back to that jail. Oh no... They will not lock her up again. She would see to that.

Although... her plans did undergo a shift recently. She was rethinking a few details. Nothing that can’t be handled in a short period of time. But they were still things that she did not see coming, or realized she had to go about a different way.

The Beanie Boys were one thing. She had thought about using them as a sort of weapon. After all, they wouldn’t be stupid enough to resist her. Not after that ‘display’ she had given to everyone in ChalkZone City. Surely they would have known about that. But....that all changed when she happened to listen to the radio and heard something...rather interesting.

The Beanie Boys had attacked the ChalkZone hospital. And all just to look for and rescue Skrawl himself.

She had not spoken about this to Skrawl, but it had her pondering. Replaying the details over and over in her mind, she realized just how devoted the Beanie Boys were to Skrawl. She wanted to avoid mind manipulation as much as possible as she was a little new at it. She had hoped she could convince the Beanie Boys to work for her, but since they have shown just how violent they can be... Perhaps it was time to think of...alternate plans.

But the one change that was the biggest was what she was going to do with Rudy. This was the one that sent the biggest shock through her system. She would still find a way to punish him, but, the way she would do it would probably be altered somehow.

There was just something about seeing him in a wheelchair that...made her rethink things. Maybe it made her realize that, in a way, they were even. After all, she had been trapped for years in that prison, just like Rudy had been trapped for years in that wheelchair. She knew that he had survived, but she did not realize that he might be crippled. And unlike her, Rudy’s condition was permanent.

...that is, unless...

Sandra felt her mouth corners curl up into a darkened smile. Her plan was being alternated again, and she could feel it forming in the back of her mind. She knew exactly how she would get even with him, and who knows? Maybe she could provide a litte... ‘education’...

A part of her was disgusted with the idea. After all, Rudy was a promise breaker. But on the other hand, she had been wanting to have ‘fun’ with him, and his damaged spinal chord did provide oh so many possibilities.

But that was still just with Rudy. What was she going to do with the rest? She hadn’t yet decided about Penny and Mint. They had offended her the least. True, they helped to lock her away. But they hadn’t offended her as deeply as Rudy and Snap had. At the moment, her focus was on those two. She would figure something for Penny and Mint soon, however. Perhaps their punishment would be relegated mostly to watching everything going down. That would be a harsh enough punishment.

As for Snap... She was going to enjoy breaking him the most. She could already see it in her mind’s eye. It replayed for her over and over again. She could see herself biting into him, eating a chunk of his sweet-tasting meat... And then she would heal him up again just so that she could bite into him once more. A food source for her to last however long she deemed necessary. A fitting punishment for the one who betrayed her.

And Snap would have no one else to blame but himself. If he hadn’t been so stubborn and actually listened to her, none of this would have happened. She had been fair to him and she had explained herself in an understandable way. She thought that he would have understood... But instead, he turned against her, broke her heart and stomped on it. He was a monster, and he deserved a punishment as harsh as the one she was going to bestow upon Rudy.

Sandra stared down at her hands, her smirk spreading across her face as she thought of these plans. Having her powers back had been one of the most wonderful things to happen to her recently. The power to heal can be a benevolent power indeed....or one of the most terrifying weapons that one could possess. There were so many ways that she could screw someone over this ability. And Rudy and Snap were about to witness just what she can fucking do with this power.

At this point, she had gotten out of the castle and now stood on the edge. She peered out ahead of her, looking at the desert all around her, giant cacti everywhere. She scanned the horizon, looking for any sign of those wretched children coming.

To her disappointment, she didn’t see anything yet. But she didn’t have to worry. Knowing them, they would figure it out soon enough. And when they did, she would be ready for them. This time, it will be she who will surprise them. She let out a small chuckle. She wondered if they were going to enjoy her little surprise.

She recalled that she still had some things to do at her real hideout. This one with Skrawl was just a distraction; she was not stupid enough to do all of her important deeds here. No, she learned the importance of a decoy years ago. If she had just done her operations somewhere else, and not in her restaurant, maybe she could have derailed them and...

Well how would she have known that they would all be so fucking unreasonable? She was not a mind reader and frankly, she thought they would have been more sensible than that.

But before she headed back there, she was getting a little hungry. But getting food was a little trickier than it had been before. When she was an accepted citizen, no one bat an eye about her going into a store and buying something. But this time around, they wouldn’t let her anywhere near the city without freaking out. And she was not yet about to back there. She will at some point, but not now. Not until she was ready for that stage of the plan.

So instead...perhaps a little hunting was in order. She ate mostly meat before anyway, so this was not really much of a change for her. And somehow, she found herself enjoying hunted meat more than just buying it in the store. There was just something about the thrill of the hunt and obtaining the meat herself that just made it all taste...a lot better. Plus, it allowed her a way to relieve some stress, which helped her keep herself under control until the time came to really have some....fun.

So, with that in her mind, she spread out her arms and took off into the sky. She flew outwards towards one of the nearby forests, far away from ChalkZone City, and began to hunt for her next meal.

However, luck had been on her side when she managed to locate a zoner long before she hit any kind of forest. Down below her as she flew, she could see something large and dark grey flying about. The zoner was quite massive in size. Even larger than Skrawl, she’d reckon. And it still somehow soared through the sky like a champion.

It looked like some kind of...vulture or condor. She wasn’t sure which. She never really understood if those were meant to be the same type of creature or if a condor was something entirely different. Either way, that perfectly described this creature. The only thing that seemed rather strange was that hat on its head. Quite a strange thing for such a magnificent bird.

Oh well. She mentally shrugged. It didn’t really matter. In a matter of moments, it was about to become her dinner. She flapped her limbs harder and moved down closer to the bird so that she could get a better range with it. Her powers worked better the closer she was to her victim. Something that she had learned years ago.

Once she got close enough, she shut her eyes for a split second and she could feel her forehead heating up slightly, the triangle mark activating her powers. She made sure that she wasn’t close enough that this large condor could see her or even attack her should it realize where the source was coming from. And she focused heavily on the creature’s heart, seeing it in her mind, feeling it pound quicker and quicker despite not actually physically touching the creature.

Suddenly, after a few seconds of doing this, the condor started to show a reaction, letting out a loud, garbled squack laced in pain and agony. It struggled, trying to keep itself aloft. Sandra only tightened her hold on it, forcing its heart to overwork itself again, putting a few more blocks in its blood tubes to make it pump increasingly harder. And soon the bird was panting, floundering around in the air, looking like it was going to fall at any given moment.

And soon, it did.

Sandra watched as the massive bird fell into the ground, crashing heavily against the jagged rocks below. She could hear a sickening crack as the spine broke in two, and the legs went completely limp. The front part of the bird still showed activity, the wings flapping about weakly, the creature’s mouth open and struggling to take in a breath.

Sandra flew down and stood in front of the bird. The condor thing did not seem fully aware of her presence. Its eyes looked mostly unseeing and unfocused. Blood dripped out of its mouth, indicating internal damage.

Yet somehow, it was still breathing. Sandra was amazed that this thing, with how broken its body had become as a result of her little ‘help’, could have survived that. Oh well, it was not going to live for much longer. She would put an end to that.

She moved slowly towards the creature’s head. By this point, it seemed to finally realize that she was there. It lifted its head up weakly and tried to bite her. Such a pitiful attempt. It nearly collapsed the moment it tried, and its efforts were...rather lacking to say the least. All Sandra had to do was side step and the creature missed her entirely. Did not even get close. Sandra just kept moving forward, and the creature lost so much strength trying to bite her that it could hardly move. This just made it easier for Sandra to get to her targeted area: the neck.

Once she was close enough, Sandra raised her foot into the air, spreading her long, sharp talons outward. Tensing the muscles in her foot up, she struck down as hard as she could. Her talons easily slashed through the flesh of the large bird, ripping out its large neck veins with ease. Blood immediately splattered all over, creating a large puddle underneath her. She took a few steps back and watched and waited for the thing to expire.

Obviously it wasn’t going to die right away. It flapped about madly as it tried to get away from the pain. It tried to let out cries of pain, but they only came out as wet and gurbled, blood rapidly pooling out of its neck even more. This lasted for only a few seconds before it collapsed completely. Its body gave into the death throes, its feet kicking out. And soon even this stopped entirely, leaving behind a large, dead, and very tasty looking corpse.

Sandra licked her lips slowly. She anticipated the taste of this creature. She was one to try new things. This was why she designed her restaurant the way that she had. She felt everyone would enjoy the experience of a new flavor each time.

Taking a few steps closer, she opened her jaws and she bit down onto the creature’s neck, where she had ripped into it. She tore off a chunk of flesh and chewed ont it a couple times before swallowing it whole. She could feel it sliding down into her stomach. She licked her lips, getting the blood off of her lips. Just as she hoped. This creature tasted quite good.

Not as good as Snap. But still...delicious. She turned her head and shot her head back against the neck, resuming her consumption of it.

sss

“That place? You are sure?” Rudy stared intently at Penny. He could feel his heart racing inside of his chest. “You sure it’s nowhere else? There? From that place?”

“Positive, Buckette?” Snap joined in. His voice was laced with as much disbelief as Rudy’s. “There are no mistakes?”

Penny narrowed her eyes softly as she stared down at the needle that she held in her hand. “There is no mistake about it. I’d bet my life that this is from the same desert where Skrawl had tried to make me his queen.”

Mint spluttered. “Skrawl tried to do what?!”

“Didn’t we tell you?” Snap frowned at him. “About the time that Skrawl kidnapped Penny and tried to make her do his dirty work for him? And how she had to pretend to be evil to save our hides?”

Mint frowend at this, tapping his chin thoughtfully. “I’m honestly not sure... I mean... A lot has happened around here.” He raised his hand up in gesture, giving a small grin at the blue and white zoner. “I don’t really mean to be rude or anything. I apologize if I came across as too...”

Snap sighed and shook his head. “No, no, you’re all right.” He waved his hand dismissively. “Anyway, let’s move on...” The zoner paused for a moment, and then he shuddered, rubbing his arm up and down. “Boy, it’s going to be spooky going back in there again...”

“Yeah, I’ll say...” Penny muttered under her breath. Mint said nothing, but of course, he wasn’t there when this all went down. He did not understand the magnitude that this had on the rest of them.

Rudy flinced at the memory. He did not like to be reminded of what nearly happened back then. He hated to remember of how he felt when he thought Penny really did betray him, and just how close they had come to losing Snap over that plan of hers... Rudy fought the best that he could to push aside his angered and horrified feelings about the situation into the back of his mind. He couldn’t let himself get lose in those emotions. Not right now.

Shifting his mind back to the manner, he started to wonder just why Sandra would pick that place of all places. It didn’t seem to make a lot of sense. Well maybe Skrawl did not tell her.... though it seemed unlikely. If they were working together, he’d imagine that Skrawl would boast about it and Sandra would inquire and Skrawl would end up, even backhandedly, admitting that he lost and that they knew of that place. It just seemed like utter suicide to use that place.

He wanted to think that there was just no way, that Penny had to be wrong, that there had to be some other desert out there somewhere that Sandra was using. It was really the only thing that made any sense to hi whatsoever.

But...the testing didn’t lie. Penny had insisted that she had tested enough times to know that this was a fact. He couldn’t just call her a liar or say that her testing was wrong. No... he would be an idiot if he did something like that. The only option that he had wasj ust to accept that Penny positively concluded that Sandra was located in that hideout. And that this was likely where Skrawl was as well, plotting and scheming with Sandra.

So...the next question that they had to figure out was...

...exactly how were they going to handle this situation?

“What do you guys propose that we do?” Rudy asked as he looked over at his friends. “Now that we know where she is.... What do you guys think our next course of action should be?”

Of course, his friends did not answer right away. He did not expect them to. This was a bit of a heavy question that would require a little thinking and planning. He was prepared to give them time. They still had some time, and he had faith in them; he knew that they’d figure something out soon. Or at least, he hoped that they would.

His eyes mainly focused on Mint, as he was the one who looked like he was in the most thought. He might be the first one to give an answer. So he watched him and waited patiently. He was a little amazed at how the older boy managed to keep focus even with Ripclaw nibbling at his hair the way that she was. Determined dinosaur, she was, with how she kept on leaning forward and trying to get more of his hair, no matter how many times Mint pushed her back.

After a while, Mint did seem to think of something as he opened his mouth to reply. Just like Rudy thought that he would. He and the others leaned in towards him, intently listening on him to see just what he had to say on the matter.

“Well..I’m honestly not really sure.”

Rudy felt a small pang in his chest. He thought for sure that Mint had figured something out. It looked like that he did not. Well, maybe if he continued speaking, they could pick up on something that would be useful for them.

Mint continued, “I mean, we have to remember just how clever Sandra is. Remember how she tricked all of us before?” He looked around at his friends nodding their heads slowly. “I thought so. And that is something that we should keep in mind. We must never forget that. Otherwise...” He turned his head down, staring at the ground. “..we will only land ourselves in a bigger mousetrap.”

Rudy shuddered to think of what happened before. Sandra had played them all for fools. She had easily, and so remorselessly, toyed with their minds and their emotions. She had them believing that she was a friend, when she was really a monster the whole time. She had pretended to be Snap’s friend, and then had the gawl to act as if she had cared about him.

Rudy would never forget that. Nor could he ever truly bring himself to forgive her for it, either. She had gone way too far, and the only place that she belonged was jail...or even death. He could feel his blood freezing at that thought. But honestly, that seemed to be a more appealing option, since it would at least stop her from causing so much trouble.

Either way worked for him, honestly.

“Just..where is this place, anyway?” Mint held up his hand in gesture. “I don’t think you guys elaborated on that.”

Rudy blinked a few times. That was correct. They hadn’t filled him in. Well, time to change that. “It was a large castle kind of place, situated on top of a large cactus.”

“A gigantic one!” Snap spread out his hands, indicating the size of it. Mint’s expression suggested that he wondered if they were exaggerating. As if sensing Mint’s possible disbelief at this, Snap continued, “I’m not even joking about this.”

“I never thought that you were.” Mint told him. After pushing Ripclaw back for what was probably the twelfth time, he added, “I just wanted a little bit of a clarification.” He rested his chin on one hand, rubbing it carefully. “Hmm...do you know if the cactus was part of the building?”

“I...we...” Rudy and Snap exchanged looks. They did not really see a lot of that place while they were there. They had only gone there to rescue Penny. All they could do was offer Mint a couple of shrugs.

But Penny was different. Rudy wasn’t sure if he should be surprised or not. “Yes, I can say for a fact that it is.” Penny furrowed her eyes deeply, as though recalling those wretched memories. “The main entrance is indeed at the top, but he did use the cactus itself for something. I’m not honestly sure what. An emergency exit I suppose.”

“How do you know about this?” Snap looked over at her. One of his eyebrows was raised up. “I thought there wasn’t a lot of time for...”

“How did you think I got myself prepared?” Penny stared over at Snap, giving him a similar expression as he was with her. “I wasn’t about to get myself dressed in front of Skrawl, even if I didn’t exactly have to take my clothes off.” Penny scrunched up her face in disgust for a second, as though thinking about doing such a thing. Rudy could not blame her for her reaction. “Well anyway, there is something in that cactus. At least that one room where I went to in order to change for my ‘Chalk Queen’ role.” She narrowed her eyes a little. “I’m just not sure how far down it goes.”

“Well, we should try it anyway.”

The others looked at Mint in confusion.

“I mean, think about it.” Mint made a few gestures with his hand. “We all know that Sandra would be ready for us. She knows that we know that she’s there. She knows that we may try to find her. And she would be expecting us to come from above.”

Rudy realized that Mint was right. He looked over at Penny and Snap. He could see the expressions on their faces as well. He could tell that, they too, had come up with the same conclusion as Mint. There was no doubt in their minds that this was indeed correct. They just knew Sandra way too well. Even Ripclaw, who did not understand the situation on the same level that they did, seemed to realize this, judging from her slightly changed expression.

They could come up with the best plan that they ever could think of, but if Sandra really did expect that they were coming, if she had wanted them to come and had prepared for it, they might as well be walking into a trap. And since that was the main entrance, and if Skrawl told her enough, Sandra would expect them to come in through there. She would be waiting there for them to arrive.

So...what Mint was suggesting was...

Mint gave a small, sly smile. “What if we came in from below?”

Rudy widened his eyes at this. He once more glanced at the others before looking back at Mint. He could feel the gears in his mind turning as he processed this plan. It was so...simple. Just a bit of a chance in the trajectory that they would take. But still likely leading to a completely new outcome. Something that none of them had thought of before, and possibly something that Sandra herself didn’t think of.

Which made it the ideal plan.

His eyes narrowed in determination, Rudy leaned his head back, pressing himself against the back of his wheelchair. “Okay guys... Let’s draw up a plan.”

sss

Dr. Gelcro leaned himself against the wall of the nearby building, his eyes unable to look away from the horrible sight of the hospital still showing signs of smoke. The fire had been long put out, but signs of it were still present. The creators had been able to minimize some of the damage and there were obvious signs of improvement. But...that wasn’t really saying much, considering the damage.

True it was not as damaged as it could have been. He will be the first to admit that. He would not lie. But still...the hospital hadn’t suffered damage this bad since...

Dr. Gelcro clutched at his chest as he recalled when Snap was brought in here years ago, when his back had been broken. Or...wasn’t it here? Yeah, he was certain that it was. And Skrawl had come and laid seige to get him and... Dr. Gelcro tried to bury those terrible images, but it just wasn’t possible. His mind just would not allow him to forget.

And by extension, how he and the other doctors treated Snap five years ago when he was framed by Sandra...

Dr. Gelcro flinched at this, sucking in a sharp breath. He didn’t know why he continued to allow that to bother him. He and the other doctors involved had done what they could to make it up to Snap and he felt that they did a lot of improvements to their relationship with him. Yet at the same time, it was just too hard to forget. The things that they had said, how they had him arrested without any way for him to defend himself... It was things like these that made it hard for him to sleep at night.

And to think, they had almost sentenced him to death. That still haunted him to this very day. He hadn’t gone through a month of sleep without a dream reminding him of this fact. If he hadn’t listened to Mosaic on that day and done the research that indicated Snap was innocent, they really would have killed him.

His heart skipped several beats as he began to wonder how things would have gone if he hadn’t figured out the truth in time. What if Snap had been killed before they realized that it wasn’t him the whole time? Would he be able to live with himself? What would he and his fellow doctors do in response to that?

Dr. Gelcro stared down at his hands, watching them tremble. He wouldn’t be surprised if he himself decided to try committing suicide. Not something that he was proud to admit. Yet...that would have been something to have crossed his mind. He had never harmed an innocent before, and he had come pretty damn close with Snap. And he did strike Penny...

Dr. Gelcro shook his head rapidly as he struggled to get those thoughts out of his head. Thinking about this stuff now wasn’t really going to help him, now was it? He needed to focus on what was going on now. He turned his attention back to the hospital, narrowing his eyes softly.

He wondered if Dr. Crobat had gotten out of there. He hadn’t seen his bird friend in a while. He could feel his heart twist. He wanted to rush back in there to find him, but he had been ordered to stay outside. It was quite irritating; he was a medic and he knew how to treat injuries. With his doctoring experience, shouldn’t he be inside helping the injured? Well he did understand if they just wanted to avoid getting more people hurt. But still..he felt so useless out here, doing nothing but watch.

He had been lucky, they said. He wasn’t inside the building when the bombs went off. He was close enough to feel some of the impact. The worse he got were a few very slight burns that didn’t really bother him much. They were hardly worth mentioning. But the others who were inside... They hadn’t been so lucky. And this included Dr. Crobat.

He wanted to know how his friend was doing. He wanted to know that he was all right. The rescue team that came in to rescue anyone trapped inside hadn’t made a mention about Dr. Crobat yet. He didn’t really know if this meant that they didn’t find him or if they did and he was all right. He wished that he knew. He didn’t like not knowing. No, not knowing was driving him insane.

But for now, all he could do was wait. He didn’t really have much of a choice. The rescue team was not going to allow him to go inside to try to help Dr. Crobat, or anyone else inside. So the most that he could do right not was just...sit and wait. And hope for the best.

As he kept himself leaning against the wall, his mind began to wander. He started to recall something unsettling that he found out about earlier. He had momentarily forgotten about this after seeing the bombing of the hospital. Understandably, it had been pushed into the back of his mind, and he clenched his teeth as he felt it crawling its way back in. He wished he hadn’t allowed the memory to be pushed aside like that.

What Snap had witnessed... What he had witnessed...

Dr. Gelcro was not even entirely sure what to make of what he had seen. He had informed Penny about it, and he was certain that she had told her friends about it. He would have told Snap as well, but he had run off too fast, and he didn’t want to make himself known too quickly. He didn’t know how many eyes were out there. He didn’t know...just where was safe to speak and where wasn’t. Though Snap had heard enough of the conversation so it probably wasn’t necessary.

Dr. Gelcro had heard a little more of the conversation, however. He had been on his way down to one of the local stores when he had overheard them speaking. He had hidden, like Snap had, only in a different place, and he had watched them carefully.

He didn’t really know what to think at first. He didn’t want to judge them too harshly and he had wanted to give them the benefit of the doubt. Maybe they wouldn’t be so bad.

But when they started talking about things regarding Bell and some kind of plan and how Rudy and the others could not know... That was when he had gotten suspicious. He didn’t attempt to approach them; he knew damn well that would have been foolish. And he was glad that Snap hadn’t been stupid enough to run after them and had immediately gone to report it to someone. Or at least, he thought that’s what he did.

He replayed that incident over and over in his mind. He just couldn’t fathom for any reason why Bell would be doing this, or for whom. He hadn’t gotten that far. The only thing he did know was that Bell had some kind of plan set up, and it was to be kept secret from them. Or at least the creators. And in that case, he would bet his tail on it that it wasn’t anything good.

At least the creators now know of this. He had seen to that. So whenever they were able to, they can investigate this issue and hopefully correct it before it manifests into something worse. He wasn’t sure when they’d have the time, though, considering this attack and Sandra’s return...

He shuddered at the thought of her. That little monster who had tricked them all into thinking Snap was a cold blooded murderer... He could not believe that she was back. And he knew, from the get go, that she was going to keep them all quite busy for a while. Research about Bell will have to be put on hold, so long as Sandra remained free. Even Skrawl was a lower priority compared to her.

He had no idea how they were going to handle this. He didn’t feel like they fully prepared for the chance of Sandra’s return. He’d admit, they did get pretty cocky. They had thought for sure that she wouldn’t have escaped...and yet here they were. They should have better prepared themselves. They should have tried harder. They should have...

“Excuse me.”

At this, he lifted his head up and he looked over to see that he was being approached a police man. He immediately stiffened up at this, recalling how the suspicious zoners were also police men. Or at least, associated with The Speculum prison. He forced himself to relax. No, he couldn’t let them know he was onto them, if this guy happened to be involved with..them.

“Yes, officer?” Dr. Gelcro spoke in a soft voice as he turned himself fully in their direction. He folded his arms against himself, pressing his shoulder against the wall. “Can I help you with something?”

The officer stopped a few feet in front of him. He noticed that it looked to be a tall, thin penguin of sorts. The same ones who spoke to Rudy and the others earlier, if he remembered right. He had witnessed some of it from a distance, when they were trying to ease the riot against Haney.

Dr. Gelcro stiffened for a brief second at that. He struggled not to allow that memory to get the better of him. It was over now. There was no need for him to get so worked up about it. It was in the past. Not like feeling guilty about it was going to change a damn thing. Yet..he just could not help it. That riot...so much like what happened to Snap...

The officer broke him out of his train of thought. “Yes, I’d like to ask you about the Beanie Boy’s attack.”

Dr. Gelcro widened his eyes slightly. “Why?” That was the only word he could get himself to say.

The penguin officer took a small step forward. “Well, it is my understanding that you had witnessed the bombing.”

Dr. Gelcro felt an immense wave of relief strike through him. He wasn’t really sure why; he hadn’t actually been worried that he was falsely accused. It just...happened. “Okay. What are your questions?”

“Would you mind coming with me?” The penguin officer asked. “I think it would be best if we discussed this back at the station.”

Dr. Gelcro nodded his head slowly. He made his way towards the penguin zoner. Despite his reassurance earlier, he still wanted to keep himself on edge. He didn’t really know what to expect from this guy. For all he knew, there might still be something going on, and he’d be damned if he let himself get caught off guard.

But before he would continue further, he did have something else he wanted to ask.

“And just...what kind of information do you need from me, anyway?” Dr. Gelcro asked. He noticed the look in the penguin’s eyes. He realized his error and he backtracked a little. “I mean, what is the question that you want to ask?”

“Oh... I just need to discuss with you about where the attack came from.” The penguin zoner stated. “That’s all. I’d like to use the information so we can try to figure out where the Beanie Boys went to.”

“Ah I see... Well that does sound like a good idea. Those little punks did go way too far in attacking a fucking hospital.” Dr. Gelcro growled softly, this teeth grinding against each other. He still could not believe it himself. Those wretched Beanie Boys were going to have hell to pay once they found where they had gone.

“Come on, let’s get going.” The penguin zoner made a motion with his flipper. “We need to figure out something before they get too far away and the trail runs cold.”

“I understand.” The dog zoner nodded his head up and down. With that, he moved along behind the penguin officer and the two disappeared down the sidewalk, heading for the station.


	17. Infiltration

Everybody's looking for something.  
-Sweet Dreams, Marilyn Manson

sss

“Okay did we back everything that we need?” Rudy asked.

“Yes.” Mint said as he adjusted the pack strapped around his back.

“We are good on the plan?” That was Rudy’s next question.

Snap waved the paper. “I got the map right there.”

“Okay, so we are all good to go then?” Rudy looked at each of his friends, as though making sure they didn’t forget anything. “We are all good?”

“Yes, Rudy.” Penny reached out and touched his arm. Rudy looked up at her. “I know you are nervous, but we went over this several times. So long as we stick to this route and to the plan of going from below instead of up, we should be able to keep the element of surprise on Sandra.”

“Yeah, Bucko.” Snap offered the best smile that he could. “We’ll get her this time.”

“Yeah...I’m sure we will.” It was hard to tell if Rudy was truly believing this or if he was just trying to sound confident for them.

Mint hoped that they weren’t going to take too much longer to get going. Not that he wanted to rush things too much. Rudy was clearly a little uncertain about this. And he couldn’t really blame him either. They were still taking a big risk, going after Sandra like this. She might even be expecting them coming from the back for all they knew, and they were still walking into her trap.

But still, this was the safest option that he could think of. And they did have to try to go aftr her anyway. ChalkZone City was still gripped in fear and it was going to stay that way until the culprits were found and captured. Right now, Sandra had the highest priority for arrest, so she was the first one that they were going to get.

And honestly, he preferred it that way. Skrawl and the Beanie Boys were a pain, yes. But they were several times easier to handle than Sandra. They didn’t possess her super healing powers...

Mint flinched when he felt something warm and wet behind him. He turned his head and he could see that Ripclaw was there. She had positioned herself between himself and Snap’s treehouse. The raptor zoner had her head pressed against him, her nostrils flaring, snorting in his face. It tickled, and he pushed her head away gently.

“Sorry, girl. But you can’t come with us.” Mint told her. Ripclaw’s facial expression seemed to falter at this, and she looked at him more pleadingly. Mint sighed and gripped the sides of her head gently. “I know you want to come with and help, but I’m not risking you getting hurt by Sandra. You have to stay here.”

“And besides...” Snap spoke up, startling Mint. “..you can always be our trump card.”

Mint blinked at this. “Trump card?” He looked over at Ripclaw. “Her?”

Penny rubbed her chin a little before raising a finger up. “You know, that just might be a good idea, actually.” Penny moved a little closer to where Mint stood. “Back when we were...enemies...” She paused at that, gritting her teeth, clearly remembering those rather unfortunate details. “I recall Ripclaw seemed to have a habit of showing up wherever you are.” She looked up at the massive green dinosaur. “Maybe she could be our backup. If we run into trouble...”

Mint widened his eyes in realization. “Oh...I get what you’re saying!”

“Sounds like a plan to me.” Rudy lifted his head up, staring directly at Mint. “Although...do you have a plan of how she could come find us?” He paused for a few moments. “Like...some kind of whistle..?”

Snap looked at Rudy, his eyes filled with confusion. “What kind of whistle can be heard from miles away without drawing attention from others?”

“A specialized whistle, perhaps?” Mint glanced down at his left hand. He moved his fingers around a little, imagining them holding the chalk and drawing with it. “If anything is possible in this world, I’m sure that I could draw something that...”

“Well...almost anything.” Snap gave a quick, nervous chuckle, raising his hand for attention. Mint stared down at him, waiting for him to continue. Which he did a second later. “I know there’s...a lot that you can do. But even ChalkZone has its limitations.”

“Snap is correct.” Rudy narrowed his eyes deeply. “If that were the case, I could have figured out a cure for balloonemia much earlier, before it caused so much trouble.”

Mint watched as Penny and Snap placed their hands on Rudy to comfort him. Mint kept silent, saying nothing, allowing them to have their moment. He hadn’t been there when the balloonemia disease had struck. But he did hear it was pretty awful. And how they had almost come up with no cure... He could feel his blood running cold to that. But the one thing that chilled him the most was...

...balloonemia had to have been created by someone...

This was something that he had wanted to talk to his friends about, but he never could bring himself to say anything. It was such a sensitive topic. But...these diseases were just... Especially this balloonemia... and the way that it functions... It was almost no way possible that it could have been some random thing. It had to have been deliberate.

Someone who had knowledge of ChalkZone had purposely created a disease to wipe out the zoners...

Mint struggled to get that thought out of his head. That thought, as chilling as it was, had no place in this conversation right now. The last thing he wanted was to make his friends worry about something else. One thing at a time. They needed to focus on just Sandra for the time being. If she wasn’t taken care of soon... Well...there’ll be many more ripped apart zoners that the city was going to mourn.

Mint realized that a little more time had passed than he would have liked. They needed to get going soon. They had already wasted a day because of rest and making sure their parents didn’t worry and such. But if they keep this up...

Okay, so he might be a little paranoid. He was worried that Sandra might do something in the time frame that they were wasting. But....could anyone blame him? They needed to stop her...and they knew full well just what she was capable of.

So he blurted out the first thing that came to his head. “I will just draw a walkie talkie on her then.”

At this, his friends stopped and stared at him. They didn’t speak a word. They just stared at him, almost as if he had grown an extra head. Mint flinched at this. He wondered if he had said something wrong. Was a walkie talkie a bad idea after all? Before he could say anything, Penny did finally break the silence.

“That...could work.” Penny admitted. “So long as it isn’t too staticky.”

“Oh that’s right.” Mint placed his hand against his forehead. How could he have forgotten? “Those darn ears of hers are so sensitive.” This reminded him of how he had torn off a piece of her ear. It looked as if it healed nicely; he noticed no scar. Perhaps she fixed it herself before the helmet was put on her? “Well I can just keep it off most of the time and only turn it on when we’re actually in trouble.”

Rudy nodded his head in agreement. “That does sound like a plan”

“Can we start heading out now?” Snap turned his head and looked up towards the sky. “I don’t mean to sound rude or anything, but Sandra...”

“Yes, I know.” Mint cut him off, nodding his head slowly. “Let me just draw this real quick and then we can get going.” With that said, Mint raised up his magic chalk and began to draw.

sss

Rudy had his mouth open, panting heavily. It was difficult moving across this terrain in a wheelchair. He pumped his arms as hard as he could, pushing the wheels and turning them in a continuous motion. But he still ended up falling behind his friends. They didn’t seem to mind stopping and waiting for them, but he hated being the reason why they hadn’t moved so fast.

Rudy had insisted that no one help him. He didn’t want to keep making Penny, Snap, or Mint push him. He needed to get more used to doing this sort of stuff on his own. He should be able to do this. This terrain was not as bad as some of the other ones he had crossed. So why was this more difficult?

Perhaps it was because of his nerves. There was a lot riding on this. And he was getting closer and closer to her. As much as he wanted to sound brave, Sandra still would always hold a place in the back of his mind, where she continued to haunt him to this day. If he could, if it were at all an option, then he would be glad to never see her face again.

That, however, was not an option. He took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly, in spite of the tiredness that plagued him. He was going to have to face Sandra again sooner or later. Perhaps this could be a good thing. Facing his fears and all. He did want to show Sandra that she no longer scared him....although he was only fooling himself. Well, he still at least wanted her to believe that she no longer scared him.

“Come on, Rudy. Let me help you.” Mint suddenly spoke, nearly making Rudy jump. Mint noticed this and he furrowed his eyes with concern. “I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”

“It’s quite all right.” Rudy told him quickly, giving him a small smile. “I just...” He noticed Mint heading towards him. The others had stopped to wait for him. Rudy raised his arm up. “Now wait...I can push myself...”

“I know you can.” Mint didn’t slow down or stop. He just kept coming towards him, moving himself behind the wheelchair. “But...and I don’t mean to be rude or anything, we still need to catch Sandra and we can’t afford to slow down for much longer. So...” Mint grabbed onto the back of the wheelchair and began to push. “I’m going to assist you, whether or not you like it.”

Rudy grumbled to himself. He couldn’t believe that Mint was not going to let him try pushing himself on his own. How else was he going to build up the upper arm strength to move through tough landscapes like this?

Then again, he was having more trouble than he should have, despite dealing with worse terrain just fine. Well comparitively fine anyway. And it did feel pretty good to give his arms a rest. Yes... he placed them against his chair’s arms, letting the cool metal soothe them, feeling the burning sensation going down. Yeah, this wasn’t such a bad idea after all.

After that, none of them spoke a word. Silence fell upon them as they continued their trek through the desert. At the moment, they were still safe just tredging through. There were a lot of cactuses here that obscured the view of the Day Zone sun above. This made it hard for Sandra to look for them. And this place was more shaded, so it was more bearable than going another possible direction that they could have taken.

They didn’t walk all the way here, of course. They had first used a small jet, modified so that he could use it in a wheelchair of course, to cross some ground. They only stopped once they reached the base of the desert. This meant that they had only been walking for about half an hour, or at most an hour.

But there was still some ways to go yet. He recalled that Skrawl’s castle hideout was pretty deep into the desert. If they continued on foot, they wouldn’t make it there for quite a while. Unless he miscalculated, which was always something that could happen.

Well, so long as they kept moving, they should be able to...

“Ahhhh!”

The scream nearly caused Rudy to jump out of his wheelchair despite not having working legs. He shook his head and he looked over at the source of the sound. And there, up ahead, he could see Penny, standing there frozen, her legs trembling greatly. Snap looked as if he was trying to get her to speak, but Penny was not responding with anything other than small whimpers.

“Penny...?” Rudy asked, staring at her with great concern. “What is it? What’s wrong...?”

“I-It’s....” Penny swallowed hard. “It’s...” No matter how hard she tried, she could not get herself to actually speak any lines. All she could do was lift up her trembling arm and point in one direction. Her shaky finger guided everyone to what she was looking at.

And they immediately regretted looking.

“What the hell...?!” Mint breathed, sucking in a sharp breathe.

“Th-That’s...” Snap swallowed, sounding as if he was struggling not to gag. “That cannot be...”

Rudy couldn’t bring himself to speak. He could feel a lump in the back of his throat as he stared out ahead of him. His widened eyes took in all the gruesome details, telling him that this was in fact real. Though his mind was refusing to accept it. He tried his damnest to shake this image out of his head, to convince himself and them that it wasn’t real. But no matter how hard he tried, this just...wasn’t going to be the case.

For there, on the ground in a crumpled heap, was Courtney.

Or rather, what remained of her.

About the only thing still in tact was her head. This was the only way that any of them knew that this was indeed Courtney. Everything else was just... Oh gawd... There was just...almost nothing left of her. Even the blood had been mostly disappeared, as though whoever did this to her had drank it. Her body was mostly a skeleton now. There were a few pieces of skin and flesh still stuck to it, but it was mostly picked clean. She almost looked like one of those stereotypical desert skeletons one would see in a western cartoon.

Rudy was struggling not to throw up. He placed his hand over his mouth and took a step back, staring at the scene before him in utter horror. He swallowed hard, looking around at Courtney’s remains, noting a few missing bones, and others where they had been cracked. This gave more evidence to Courtney having been eaten. Whether or not that’s what killed her or if there was an accident, he wasn’t sure.

Either way, it didn’t change the reaction that they all had. Even Mint, who had barely known Courtney, looked saddened by this discovery. And Snap had his head lowered, fumbling with his hands, unsure of what to say.

The one who was taking it the hardest was Penny. Rudy watched helplessly as Penny rushed over towards her creation. Not just any creation, but the first one that she had ever drawn in ChalkZone. She stood in front of Courtney’s head, staring into her creation’s unseeing eyes. She licked her lips nervously, placing a hand on her chest as though to feel her racing heart inside her rib cage. She gave a small sniffle before she reached out towards the dead condor.

“C-Courtney...?” Penny whispered, staring intently at the large bird’s face, as though waiting for a reaction from her. “Courtney...a-a-are you still there...?” But of course, there was no reaction. How could there be anything else? Penny took in a shaky breath and moved herself closer, nearly pressing herself against the bird’s head. “Don’t do this to me... Please... Courtney... You’ve got to get up... Please...”

“Penny...she’s dead...” Mint sounded a little too blunt at this. Rudy and Snap glared at him, wishing that he had been more gentle. But in this case, they both knew that he was right.

“Buckette, there’s....” Snap choked, trying not to sob or throw up himself. “..there’s nothing we can do for her. It’s too late...”

“No!” Penny shook her head. “I don’t believe it! There has to be something that we can do!”

Rudy flinched at this. It was so hard for him to see Penny acting this way. She was the voice of reason, the smart one. And for her to really think that a corpse still had a chance to get up... But he couldn’t really blame her for reacting this way. This was still her creation after all. But still...she had to come to her senses before she did something to hurt herself.

Pushing himself towards Penny, Rudy spoke in a soft, gentle tone. “Come on, Penny. L-Let’s continue on. There’s...There is nothing more that can be done here.” He licked his lips. He hated having to leave the corpse behind; the least they could do was bury it. But this area was more exposed and if Sandra spotted them.... “Penny...please...”

Penny turned her head over at him so fast that he was shocked that she didn’t get whiplash from it. The look in her eyes made them all freeze instantly, feeling their hearts twist. Seeing those wide eyes, reddened from tears, her cheeks glistening, was a sight that could break even the strongest among them.

“There’s still a chance! There just has to be! I-It can’t end like this! You hear me?! It cannot end this way!” Penny grabbed onto Courtney’s head, pressing her head against the side of her lifeless face. Her screams rapidly died down, devolving into sobbing. “Th-There just has to be a way... I...”

She stopped when Mint reached over and placed his hand on her shoulder. The girl stiffened at this touch. She managed to lift her head up and she stared over at Mint. The two of them locked eyes with each other for several moments. Slowly, Penny curled her lip downward, her eyes scrunching up as they got more watery. She lowered her head and started to bawl. She pressed herself against Mint, who slowly wrapped his arms around her shaking, convulsing body. She sobbed into his shoulder as he gently rubbed her back, trying to calm her down.

Rudy and Snap watched this scene sadly, exchanging looks with each other before finding themselves staring back. They both could feel their hearts stinging as realization of what happened struck them. They clenched their teeth, formed fists with their hands, whatever they could to relieve a little bit of tension. But neither spoke a word, not wanting to interrupt this. True, they had to find Sandra. But Penny needed a little time first. Yes, just a little bit of time.

The back of Rudy’s mind erupted into thoughts. He found it difficult not to stare at Courtney’s lifeless face, those unseeing eyes practically looking straight into his soul. He shuddered, again feeling a cold wave striking through his body. He just could not begin to imagine what brought Courtney to this horrible state. His mind filled with all kinds of images of what could have happened to the giant condor.

Could Skrawl have done something like this? He narrowed his eyes at the thought. It would be just like him to do something this terrible. But..the consumption thing... Could he really have eaten Courtney?

But then there was Sandra. She was a likely culprit as well. Far more likely than Skrawl. There wasn’t really any evidence supporting this, however, as there was no sign indicating what killed Courtney. So he was going off on speculation only. And Sandra was far from the only zoner who hate other zoners. There were plenty of carnivorous wild zoners out there. Maybe one of them did this.

In the end, however, there was really nothing that they could do for her. It was best that they bid their farewell and get a move on. They were sitting ducks out here, anyway.

After what felt like several minutes, Penny finally parted away from Mint. She looked towards the ground for several seconds. Her eyes were shut tightly and she rubbed them, alleviating them of the tears that had crowded around inside. She then lifted her head up and stared up at Mint. Slowly, she cracked a small smile.

“Th-Thank you...” Penny’s voice was but a whisper. Coarse, a tad difficult to listen to. “I...I feel a little better.”

“Are you sure?” Mint asked. He kept his hands on her, staring down at her intently. “You going to be fine?”

Penny nodded her head. “Y-Yeah... I believe I will.” She gave a sniffle and wiped her arm against her nose, cleaning it the best that she could. She looked over at Snap and Rudy. “I’m...sorry you guys.”

“It’s quite all right, Buckette...” Snap walked over towards her, putting his hand on her. “We understand.”

Rudy nodded his head. “That’s right. Don’t beat yourself up over it.” He looked over at Courtney’s corpse. He sucked on his lip, pressing his teeth into it. A thought crossed his mind, causing his eyes to narrow. He looked back at her. “We will find out who or what did this to her, Penny. I promise.”

Penny looked over at Rudy. She smiled at him, though her smile was clearly shaken and trembling. It was difficult for her to keep a straight smile. Rudy could practically see her muscles straining to keep up the smile. They looked as if they would give out at any moment. When she opened her mouth to reply, he could see a noticeably sharp drop in her mouth, as though her lip muscles were getting to tired keeping up the smile. “I...appreciate that, Rudy.”

Rudy smiled gently at her, feeling a pang of disappointment that he could not jump out of his chair and give her a hug. He looked over at Courtney once more. He gave a soft frown and then sighed. He turned back to Penny, giving her an expression that they all could obviously read.

“Come on....let’s go...”

sss

Dead... She was gone... Courtney was dead, and there was nothing she could do to bring her back. Oh gawd...j-just how did this happen...?

Penny struggled to keep her composure as they continued walking through the desert. But it was getting so difficult. Each step felt so stiff, as if she was going to fall over any moment. It didn’t help that she couldn’t stop shaking, her body constantly trembling.

Oh Courtney... What could have happened to her...?

Penny couldn’t fathom just what happened. She couldn’t start to think of what happened to her. Her mind was just too numbed, too frozen from the shock of finding her creation laying dead before her. She felt as if she could see Courtney’s life flash before her eyes, and nothing she did stopped this cycle from repeating itself.

She just..could not believe it. Courtney couldn’t be dead. Despite the cold hard evidence that had been laid bare before her, she just found it difficult to believe that she was truly gone. She had seen Courtney recently, too, the day before they went bowling. She had been fine. Healthy, happy, so full of life... and now she was a corpse on the ground. Reduced almost entirely to a skeleton. It just wasn’t fair... What could have done this to her...?

Whoever or whatever did... she would find out. Oh how she will find out... And once she did, she was going to make them pay for it. In the moment, she cared not if it was an animal or person who did it. They would still pay.

Penny realized how dark and twisted she was being after a few seconds and she shook her head. No, this was not the proper way to react. Courtney wouldn’t have wanted her to go on such a rampage. And hurting whoever or whatever killed Courtney would not bring her back, now would it?

Refocusing her attention, she looked at what was in front of her. They were getting close to a large, mountainous structure. Though she knew it was no mountain; it was part of the large cactus that held Skrawl’s hideout. They were getting closer now. Even from here, she could detect its foul stench. They still had some ways to go, but they would arrive there in a few minutes, she knew.

But before any of them could get too close, they all had to abruptly stop at a slightly raised ridge on the ground. For after that, the large cactuses that had been sheltering them suddenly stopped. They did continue ahead of them, but it was a good thirty feet away. In short, they would be exposed.

“Oh man...what do we do now?” Snap hunched himself as he looked left and right. “We can’t go out there. She might see us!”

Rudy’s body trembled, although he managed to keep his voice as steady as possible. He lifted his head and looked around. “I...I don’t see anything.” He turned his head around, scanning the sky for any sign of trouble. “I don’t see Sandra.”

“She would be difficult to see.” Mint narrowed his eyes, gritting his teeth. “She is light blue. She’d blend in with the sky above us. She might be circling us and...”

“She wouldn’t be invisible, though, and she’d still cast a shadow.” Penny put her hands on her hips and she looked around. She tried to see anything moving, but there was nothing. “And there is no sign of a shadow here. I don’t think she’s above us.”

Snap fumbled with his hands. “Well, we’d still be exposed out there.”

Penny narrowed her eyes. “Then we just run as fast as we can.” She paused and she stared over at Rudy. “And push ourselves as well.”

“That would only draw more attention to us, though.” Mint pointed out. “Don’t you have another idea?”

Penny opened her mouth to speak, but quickly stopped when she realized that Mint was indeed correct. If they were going to get across, just rushing over would make them more noticeable. They would need some other kind of plan. Something that would ensure that they would be able to get over without some form of detection. Or at least, limit the odds of Sandra knowing about it.

There was the invisibility option, just like the one that she, Mint, and Rudy pulled a few years ago. But she quickly scratched that idea. It was a little too difficult to manage. Plus, what if Sandra ate the bird? No, they needed something else.

Slowly, she turned her eyes down towards the ground, seeing the hard surface. She rubbed her chin thoughtfully. She had to wonder...

“What if we dug underground?” Penny suggested. She looked back at the others. She noted their confused expressions. She pressed on. “Well, we are already coming in from the underground, right?” Upon seeing their nods, she turned her head back over to the cactus forest ahead of them. And behind them, the large cactus that they were trying to arrive at. “Why not go underneath all of this? Sandra can’t attack what she cannot see, right?”

“That does seem like a good idea.” Rudy moved himself closer to her, letting out a few grunts as he struggled to move his wheelchair over a small pebble. “But what about me? I don’t know how well my wheelchair will function in an underground tunnel.”

“Don’t worry. I can push you.” Mint placed a hand against himself. “I’ve pushed you through plenty of tough things. It shouldn’t be too difficult.”

“Well, I’m still not entirely sure...” Rudy’s voice trailed off.

“I insist!”

“Okay so we have that settled!” Snap said quickly, raising up his hands. He then shrugged his shoulders at his sides. “So...how are we going to go about this?”

Rudy looked at Snap. “I never said...”

Mint cut him off. “There isn’t time, Rudy.”

Rudy looked like he wanted to keep fighting. But he soon realized the futility of this and let out a soft sigh. He lowered his head in defeat. “Yeah... you are right.” He turned his head over to Penny. “Okay, how do you propose we do this, Penny?”

Penny didn’t bother answering them. She had already been working on something while they were busy chatting. Her arm was tired from all the zigzagging and twisting, drawing her latest creation and materializing it. But in the end, it was quite well worth it.

Situated before her was a large machine. It stood on six mechanical legs, each one letting out a bit of steam through the joints, giving an indication of its nonorganic nature. It had something like a head with a large drill attached to it. The drill was thick and strong, ready to tear into the ground at any moment. A single red visor spread across its head, giving it any sort of vision. But unlike Courtney, this thing was not alive; it was operated on via the remote control that she drew.

Penny took a moment to admire her creation. She usually did not pride herself in her work. She was usually not able to draw something like this. But given the situation, she felt as though her body was being filled with some kind of energy, granting her an ability she never had before. Licking her lips slowly, she pushed the lever and the creation immediately began to drill.

Instantly, the ground practically explosed as the drill made contact with the ground. Rocks shot in all directions, spraying the ground. Though her friends moved back away quickly, Penny hardly flinched as her machine began to dig into the ground. She watched as it soon disappeared beneath the dry dirt and continued on its way through the underground tunnel of its creation.

Penny looked over at her friends. She gave a single nod of her head and motioned her arm quickly. “Let’s get going!”

Her friends hesitated for a moment. Snap was the first one to respond. He rushed over to her side. Then Mint soon grabbed Rudy from behind and joined them as well. The friends gave each other knowing expressions. They then looked at the slightly ragged tunnel that Penny’s creation was leaving behind for them. They took in a deep breath each, and then they headed down the tunnel together.

sss

“Ouch!” Snap hissed as he hit his leg against another ridge. How many more of them was he going to run into? “How much further is it?”

“We should be getting close. Just keep walking. My driller should have reached it by now.” Penny told him.

Snap did recall that the driller did not exactly wait for them. They were a bit far behind. He wished that Penny thought this through better, however. The fact that he did not see the machine did not exactly comfort him in any way. If he could just see it, he could have a better idea of just how deep they had gone. This tunnel all looked the same.

He couldn’t bring himself to say anything, though. He did not want to sound like a whiner. At least they were on the right track, anyway. That should be good enough, right?

“Ngh...!”

Snap looked over. It seemed that he was not the only one having problems with this terrain. Rudy had actually been having more issues than him. No surprise considering that he was in a wheelchair. The poor boy had to rely on Mint, and there were times when even Mint couldn’t help him as much as he would have liked.

But even in spite of that, they were making pretty good time, he thought. At least they didn’t have to stop for any long extended period of time. They just had to keep this up and they should reach their destination soon. Well, so long as Penny’s driller kept going straight. So far, it had been. But he couldn’t help but have a fear in the back of his mind that he would run into an issue and veer off in one direction.

Silently, they all continued down the makeshift tunnel. They were getting closer and closer to that large cactus that held Skrawl, they knew. There was no doubt about it. Snap could practically smell it. The sensation made him want to gag.

A part of him wanted to get out of here. He didn’t want to get anywhere near Sandra again. Not after what she did before. How callously she had slaughtered those innocent zoners... But he knew that he had no choice in the matter. They needed to tackle her, so he was going to have to swallow his fear of her the best that he could. This was something that he knew the others had done, or were trying to do. And he needed to be there for them as well, and try to be brave himself.

His thoughts were interrupted when he nearly ran into Penny. He managed to stop himself in time and moved backwards. He narrowed his eyes at her and wondered just why she had stopped all of a sudden. But when he tilted his head forward, he soon saw the reason for the abrupt stop.

They had made it.

Snap took a moment to stare at the green wall that laid before them. The driller had turned itself around and stopped at the side. He had forgotten that Penny was controlling it. He felt stupid for a moment, but soon returned his attention on the green, thorned wall before him. Thoughts raced through his head as he slowly realized that...they had truly made it.

They were at Skrawl’s hideout. Or at least, the very base of it, depending on how far down things stretched in this thing. A part of him wanted to walk over and touch it and try to make an assessment himself. But he just couldn’t bring himself to move at all. He could only look out ahead, his mind coming to terms that they were indeed getting closer to their destination.

It was Penny who broke the silence. “All right... We are here.” She licked her lips nervously. She swallowed, her body giving a shudder. “Now...let’s try to find a way inside...”

Penny moved her hand along the green wall, as if trying to find something. The others watched her, waiting to see if she found anything yet. Penny did not try to talk to them, nor did she look at them. She was clearly too focused on feeling her way around this green wall than to speak to them. Not that they minded, giving the current situation.

Penny began to gently tap against the wall. Over and over again, she did this, trying to find something. Snap wasn’t sure just what she was listening for. Though he said nothing; he merely folded his arms against his chest and waited for her to make some kind of discovery. This was Penny of course. Surely she’d find something soon.

And she did. The fifth time she struck, her eyes light up and she froze. She then hit against it a few times and she turned her head over to the others. They noticed just how wide her expression was, just how lit up it seemed. And when she spoke to them, they soon discovered the reason for this change of expression.

“It’s hollow here!”

“It is?” Mint rushed over quickly. He took out his magic chalk. “Then allow me.”

Penny took a few steps away as Mint drew a small laser drill. Or something like that. Snap was not sure what to call it. That didn’t matter at the moment, though, and he just focused on watching Mint cut a hole into the green wall. Cactus juice spilled everywhere, splattering against the ground. The sight would have been gruesome had it been a living, breathing creature.

Okay so cactuses were alive. But still...

Those thoughts were lost on him as they all entered inside the massive interior of the cactus. Despite their earlier reservations, they couldn’t help but be in awe and amazement on just how big everything was in there. The walls stretched high up, beyond what they could see, and it was so wide in here, Snap could have sworn that this place could be used as a small settlement.

Which shouldn’t be of any surprise, considering the fact that they had been inside the castle before, and that thing was quite large in of itself. But this cactus... It easily dwarfed that many, many countless times. It was so large in here in fact that.... Snap couldn’t help but feel slightly intimidated.

Snap shook his head. He tried to get those thoughts of wonder out of his mind. He reminded himself of the mission. He stared over at Rudy, Penny, and Mint. He could see that they, too, were still enjoying the wonders of this place. He hated to interrupt them, but they still had a certain someone to catch. With a few small clearing coughs, he managed to get their attention.

“So...what do we do now..?”

The friends just stared at each other with this answer floating around in their heads. They exchanged glances with each other. Then they all looked upwards, where the cactus seemed to stretch several feet up before there was any sign of ground.

Indeed, just how were they going to get up?


	18. Discovered

..and stop fucking with my mind!  
-No One’s There, Korn

sss

The small pile of torn innards laid in a heap in the middle of the cage. The stench was so strong, the ‘scent lines’ seemed practically noticeable. They wafered in the air in a distorted fashion. All around them, a thin puddle of red blood, spreading out and staining the ground.

It was not along. A pair of mismatched eyes stared down at it. Eyes that were bulging wide in a mixture of horror and disgust. A large shadow spread over the innards, the pair of eyes unable to be torn away from the gruesome sight. Gagged sounds filled the air, and there was a narrowly missed chance of vomiting.

“Y-You’ve got to be kidding me...” Skrawl raised his hand up, placing it over his mouth. “Y-You’re just...”

Sandra took a few steps towards the cage. She swished her tail from side to side. She stared down at the ground where the organs laid. She simply sneered at the sight of them. Torn apart with her teeth and claws, they looked almost like spaghetti, though anyone with a nose could tell that this was not the case. The fact that they were colored quite differently also helped.

She lifted her head and stared intently over at Skrawl. She merely shrugged her shoulders, as if this was no big deal. Because to her, it was not. If anything, she was actually being quite generous. It was not her fault if Skrawl wanted to push this away.

“Eh, suit yourself. I just thought you would be hungry.”

Skrawl gritted his teeth, forming a tight fist with one of his hands. “You disgusting freak!” He slammed his fist against the cage bars. The screeching echo did irritate Sandra’s ears, but she pretended that it did not. “Why the fuck would I want to eat this stuff?! I don’t eat raw meat!”

Sandra feigned a surprised expression, placing her hand against her chest and snapping her head back. “Oh, you don’t? Oh my, dear me...I didn’t know!” She tilted her head to one side, spreading a twisted smirk across her face, her eyes widening. “You should try it sometime. It is delicious!” To drive her point home, she turned her head down and began to lick a bit of blood that clung to her hand.

“That is so disgusting!” Skrawl curled his lip up. He looked like he was struggling not to throw up. “I’ve done a lot of twisted things...but I’d never do something like that!”

Sandra shook her head. “Of course you wouldn’t, Skrawly boy.” She ignored his low growl at that remark. She turned herself around, putting her back to him. “I just though that you would be willing to take chances.” She turned her head to the side and then upwards. She raised her hand up in gesture and said, “...to get messy...”

She lowered her hand and she closed her eyes, tilting her head downward. She took in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. She turned her head back towards him, looking over her shoulder.

“But I suppose I was wrong... You’re just pathetic.”

Skrawl widened his eyes at that comment, his teeth gritting tightly. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but in the moment, he had been stunned into speechlessness. It was pretty obvious to her this was because anger had taken a hold of his mind, and he wasn’t able to think well enough to form a coherent sentence. Well aside from a few ‘you’ comments floating here or there.

Sandra did not really care if Skrawl ate the meat or not. She had not given it to him for pleasantries or out of kindness or generosity of course. It had been merely a power play. Skrawl had caught onto it quickly, and he refuses to give in. Eventually she’d have to force feed him so he did not die too early. But for now, teasing him like this was just as fun.

That condor she had killed earlier had produced a lot of meat. It did not taste as good as a sentient zoner, though. That was a tad disappointing. But despite not being on par with zoners like say Snap, the condor was still pretty good. It had been tasty enough that she had wanted to save its meat for later. True, she was not in the restaurant business anymore, but fuck, why would she waste all that meat?

Transporting it had been a problem. It would have taken her so long to make multiple trips and she was too small to carry the meat all in one go. Fortunately, however, she did have a little bit of help.

She had noticed four of Skrawl’s Beanie Boys in the vicinity. She had seen them before, fleeing ChalkZone City as if they had done something horrible. This had already piqued her interest, as she had wondered what the Beanie Boys were willing to do. And she would love to find out just what they did to the city to make the zoners chase them out...

But that could wait. Instead, she had opted to just take a hold of those four. It was not as many as she would have liked, but they would still do just fine. So long as they listened to her and obeyed her orders, it would be all good.

For now, they were only working for her to keep Skrawl safe. She had made them a deal. Help her out and she would spare their leader. Or at least, not hurt him or try to kill him. Of course, it was a lie; she did eventually plan on putting tumors in their head to make them forget that Skrawl was their leader, making them a little more moldable into working for her. But for now, this arrangement worked just fine.

Most of the condor’s meat was stored in the freezer, separated as she had informed the Beanie Boys. This would keep the meat fresh for her long enough so she did not need to hunt for a while. She wanted to release the rest of her pent up rage and anger against something much more...deserving...

“This isn’t going to last, you know.”

“Hmm?” Sandra tilted her head back enough so that she could see Skrawl’s face, though upside down. “What did you say?”

“You heard me!” Skrawl clenched his fist tightly, baring his teeth in her direction. “Don’t you dare try to fucking pretend that you have no idea what I’m talking about!”

“Really now? Perhaps you should tell me then...” Sandra flipped herself around, facing against Skrawl once more. She adopted a dinosaur-like posture, leaning forward, although this time, her arms were folded firmly behind her back. A small grin quickly shifted its way along her snout. “I am most happy to listen.”

Skrawl growled at his, his body trembling. “You can’t possibly have forgotten about Rudy and his little friends!”

Sandra’s eyes flickered at this. “Of course not...”

Skrawl hissed softly. “Then you should know that they will stop you.” He turned his head swiftly to the side. His face contorted further into disgust. “I may not like them that much, but I will admit, they are...pretty tough.” He looked back at her. His expression was a fusion of a dark smile and twisted rage. “They will ultimately be your downfall.. And I will stand here and laugh.”

Sandra did not answer. She merely stared at the jellybean, her expression never changing. Of course she fully aware of what Skrawl was talking about. She fully expected those nasty children to try to stop her. She had been planning on it.

But the one thing that Skrawl here got wrong is... It was not her who was going to fall. But it would instead be them.

“Whatever you say, Skrawly boy.” Sandra shrugged her shoulders, her hands postured at her sides. Nothing about her body language indicated she realized any sort of threat. Not that she was going to take those children lightly. She just liked to irritate Skrawl, who did not look happy that she seemed to be underestimating them. “I think I will do just fine, really. After all...” She placed a hand against herself. “I do have an advantage over them.”

“Yeah, your super healing powers. I know that!” Skrawl rolled his eyes. “But you still lost to them before, even with your precious powers!” Skrawl pointed a pointed, accusatory finger in her direction. “What in the world makes you think that they are going to be fooled again?” He tilted his hand up, curling his claws inward. “They will see your dirty little tricks coming...” He formed a fist and he shot it out to one side. “..and they will stomp all over it!”

“Uh huh... True...perhaps...” Sandra placed her hand against the side of her cheek. “That would be quite the problem...” She lowered her head, her hand dropping down as she smirked darkly. “...if I were going to use the exact same strategy as before.”

Skrawl raised an eyebrow at this, looking largely unconvinced. “So you are capable of making proper alterations to your plans, I see...”

Sandra decided to ignore the blatant insult against her as she waved her hand dismissively and said, “By the time that I am done with them, they will all be at my mercy, pleading me to end their suffering!” She folded her arms against her chest, unable to stop herself from sneering. “And all I will do is laugh!”

“Until something trips you up. Like, say, that little blue idiot jumping out of nowhere and knocking you off your feet?”

Sandra felt her blood boil at this for a moment, her body practically ruffling. She did manage to catch herself and got settled down quickly before she did anything crazy. She merely smirked at Skrawl, pretending as though that sentence had not had any impact on her whatsoever. She could see how confused Skrawl looked. He had noticed, but she did not care.

Yes, she was quite aware of the problems that Snap was going to provide. He was the one who threw the kink into her machine, so to speak. He was the one who set everything into motion when he had wrecked her beautiful machine. And quite on purpose, too; she did not care what he said otherwise. Things would have been different he had admitted his wrongs and sought forgiveness from her. She would have forgiven him and they would have moved on.

But nope. He had chosen to say on this wreckless path. Now he was nothing more than an enemy in her eyes. An enemy that needed to be annihilated as soon as possible. But not without a little play time, of course...

“Snap...heh..” Sandra grinned more broadly, her lips lifting up so that Skrawl could see more of her sharp teeth. “I can guarantee you...” She deliberately avoided the use of ‘promise’, as this comment was not to be taken entirely seriously. “...by the end, he will have changed his name to Snacks.”

Skrawl snarled, “We’ll see about that.”

“Yes. Indeed we will.” Sandra nodded her head.

She would have continued, but she had gotten a little tired of speaking to Skrawl. She would prefer heading out somewhere on her own for a little while. Perhaps head outside to see if those brats were finally coming. Or at least, check out her monitors. Yeah, she should really inspect her monitors and see if they picked up anything of interest.

With that, ignoring Skrawl’s shouts behind her, the blue dragon zoner turned away from him and began to head over towards the exit. Her monitors were located not here, but in her other hideout. Her main one. It shouldn’t take long to get there. Not like much can happen, and the Beanie Boys wouldn’t dare try to help Skrawl escape now. She had promised to hunt them all down if they dare try to leave with him; she had ways of finding out.

She had gotten pretty close to the door when something caught her attention. She stopped, her ears twitching a little. She looked left and right, trying to figure out where the sound was coming from. Footsteps...? She thought it was the Beanie Boys, but that could not be the case.

Could it be..?

Sandra felt her teeth grit at this. A part of her hoped not. She had set things up according to what she thought would happen. Those brats weren’t supposed to come down from that way.

But what if they did? Or what if someone else had come in?

Well at least she knew this. She smirked at this realization. If it was someone trying to get the jump on her, they were so sadly out of luck. They had already given themselves away. She was quite glad for how echoey things can be in certain parts of this cactus that this castle was situated upon. It made it so much easier to tell if something was amiss.

Changing direction, she soon headed down towards another part of the castle. She made her way towards the stairs situated where Skrawl was caged. She heard him shout at her, trying to strike at her with his claws. She ignored him, shoving a confused Beanie Boy to the side as she continued her way down the steps. Round and round she went along the spiral staircase until she came upon the bottom level.

Here she began to tread more lightly. She moved slower, careful not to allow her talons to hit against anything. She did not want to give herself away. Not now. Not when she was trying to sneak up upon whoever was down here.

She could hear voices now. Heavy panting. She lifted her ears up. These voices did sound so familiar. Was it really whom she had been waiting for? Could she finally start to put everything into motion?

And when she saw the familiar shadows cased upon the wall, right where the next set of spiral staircase laid, there was no doubt about it. Nothing else that it could possibly be.

It was Rudy, Penny, Snap, and Mint.

Sandra hunched her body and pressed herself against the wall. She watched intently as the shadows got larger and larger. A part of her was curious as to how they figured out a way in here, and another part of her was curious about how they had gotten up here with Rudy’s little wheelchair problem. It was tempting to stay and listen just to see if she could figure this out. She was dying to know.

But...no. Not now. She would much rather wait until later. She had to keep herself hidden for now. She would act as if she did not know that they were here. Let them pass and think they were getting the upperhand. Then she would spring the trip.

She grinned broadly as she took several steps back, coating herself in the darkness. It was going to be fun to toy with her victims. 

sss

“Hey, did you guys hear that?”

“Hear what? I didn’t hear anything...”

“I thought I heard footsteps. Maybe we should..”

“That was me!”

“Sorry...”

Snap had to struggle not to allow himself to be pushed down by mistake. He had made the error of being behind everyone, and they were moving so slowly, even suddenly stopping at random. This made it so much harder for them to be making any sort of proper progress. It was really getting quite annoying having to constantly be on his toes.

But at least they were making some progress anyway. They were getting close to the top, thank goodness. He could already see the light from where the door was. He almost quickened up his pace...until he remembered that his friends were blocking the way. Especially Rudy.

“Come on, Rudy. You can do it.” Penny said gently. She stood next to Rudy, an arm hooked around his. “Just one step at a time...”

“It’s like riding a bicycle.” Mint froze when he saw the way that Rudy was looking at him. “Well it has been a long time... Well anyway, you can do it.” He had Rudy’s other arm, providing more support. “Just keep going, nice and easy...”

Rudy gritted his teeth tightly. It looked as if each step took so much extra concentration...which it did. “There wasn’t an...easier solution for this..?”

Penny shook her head. “Sorry, but we need to get up here without causing too much commotion. Having you walk on your own was the best way.”

“As much as I had always wanted to walk again...” Rudy hit his foot against something and nearly dripped. “...but this is not how I imagined that...”

Mint down at him sympathetically. “We know, Rudy. We know. Just...try to hang in there, okay?” He moved himself closer to Rudy, offering better support. “It will just be until we reach the right level. Then we’ll draw you a temporary wheelchair for you to use and...”

Rudy shook his head. “I’ll just stick with this. A wheelchair would make more noise and I....” His voice trailed off. There was no response to this. They all knew exactly what was on his mind.

Snap still couldn’t help but feel amazed at how Mint and Penny had managed to even create that contraption for him. It did not look the most comfortable, he had to admit. And a part of him wondered just how deeply it was pressed against Rudy’s leg. Was it piercing the skin at all?

It still seemed to be working, though. The metal straps around his legs, segmented in a few areas where it could be bent, stretched up both of his legs. Wires ran up his sides and were attached to a band around his head. Rudy controlled it via his thoughts. Concentrating the best that he could so that he could make each leg move when he wanted them to. This all seemed like it would be so easy...but it came with its own challenges.

Rudy had to be very careful not to lose much concentration for very long, for the slightest alteration in his mind would cause the legs to wobble and falter. This had already happened at least three times on the way up the steps. And this was not exactly the best place for him to lose the ability to walk. Luckily, Rudy seemed to be able to do well enough that this wasn’t an issue most of the time. But they still had to be very careful with each step.

The fact that they were getting closer to the top was a relief. Once they got up there, they would be able to let Rudy relax for a little bit. Give him some time to sit and regain some of his strength and leg his aching legs relax. This would then provide them a little bit of time to decide just what next course of action that they should take.

And pretty soon, after a little while of walking, they seemed to finally reach the top. It was such a relief to them all, including Snap, to not have to strain their bodies to keep going up; they could finally relax more. Snap nearly collapsed against the wall as he leaned against it to relax a little.

Rudy didn’t stop right away. He walked a little more forwards. Then he looked at Penny and Mint, gesturing them to release him. Though clearly reluctant, they did give into his wishes and let him go, each taking a small step back. They watched Rudy intently to see what would happen.

At first, it looked as if Rudy was going to try leaning against the nearby wall. But instead, he remained standing. His head was tilted downwards, staring directly at his feet. He remained like this for a while, taking in slow, steady breaths. His eyes seemed fixated on something that they could not see, and they could not read his expression. It was as if Rudy were struggling with something internally and he wasn’t really sure just how to best handle it. Or something like that.

Eventually, he did start to take a few steps forward. It didn’t seem like he was going to walk too much. But when he kept on taking slow, steady steps, Snap and the others stiffened up and watched him with more caution. They hadn’t expected him to try something like this. True, he was able to handle himself well it seemed, but they all prepared for something to happen. Rudy was taking a huge risk. He hadn’t used his legs in years; he shouldn’t be pushing himself like this.

But it seemed as though there was something inside of Rudy that was urging him to do this. Something that made him scream inside ‘hey keep moving, don’t stop’. And the boy’s actions were reflecting this. He kept on moving himself forward, step by step. His teeth gritted, eyes narrowed, huffing and puffing. Rudy just kept on moving forward, no matter how wobbly and unsteady his steps were getting.

And then it finally happened. Before any of them could react, Rudy tripped up against something and he started to fall forward. He let out a cry of surprise as he nearly plummeted against the hard ground beneath him. Penny and Mint immediately dashed to his side as quickly as they could. They seized his arms and lifted him up gently, each one having a good hook on his arm. They watched him with wide, concern-filled eyes as they steadied him, giving him some time to recover mentally from what had happened.

“Rudy!” Penny spoke after a few moments. “Are you okay?!”

Snap took a few steps towards them. His eyes scanned Rudy’s body up and down, looking for any injuries. “You nearly took quite the fall there, Bucko!”

“Y-Yeah...I’m fine...” Rudy hissed through clenched teeth. “I just...need a little more practice... That’s all...”

“I think it’s best if Penny and I continue to hold onto you. It’s clear that you are so out of practice with using your legs, and this method that we provided you is draining you mentally.” Mint narrowed his eyes a little as he stared at the head band that was strapped around Rudy’s head. “We probably should have thought of something a little easier for you.”

Rudy shook his head. “No, I’m fine...”

Penny placed her hand against Rudy’s cheek, causing the boy to freeze. Rudy stared over at her, blinking his eyes slowly as he tried to stare at Penny at the same time that he should be concentrating on the contraption on his legs. Even the act of just holding them still was enough to require a lot of concentration to keep from creating any sort of trouble.

Penny bit her lip firmly. Then she said, “Rudy... I don’t want you to overwork yourself. Let me and Mint help you. It will be easier on you. Trust us.”

“Yeah, Rudy. You need to take it easy.” Snap looked at him sadly, reaching his hand out towards them. “Please, don’t try to strain yourself...”

Rudy still seemed so stubborn. He still shook his head and he still looked rather resistant. “I don’t want...” He swallowed hard, licking his lips. “I just don’t want to be a burden to you...” His eyes widened a little as he said this. “I don’t want to...trouble you...”

At this, Snap, Penny, and Mint exchanged worried expressions. Poor Rudy... He must feel so guilty, having to rely on them for help. He must really wish that he could do all of this stuff on his own, just like how he used to. He hated having to rely on others, and he hated having to make others help him. They could understand why he felt this way.

Still, however, Rudy needed to take it easy. He shouldn’t have to feel guilty about accepting help from them. They were his friends after all. They didn’t mind helping him out if he really needed it. They didn’t mind offering the aid. He needed to stop being so hard on himself. It was not his fault that he was in a wheelchair. It was not his fault that he lost the use of his legs. He should not blame himself at all for this. And he certainly should not feel guilty about asking for help from them.

But it didn’t seem like this was going to get through to Rudy anytime soon. Despite him becoming more accepting of his fate and just being glad that he could still move around at all, there had always been a part of him that felt guilty. And this probably wasn’t going to change any time soon. And especially not now, when he really did have to rely on them for transportation, now that he was no longer in his wheelchair. Of course, that decision had been made because they could not bring the wheelchair up with them along the steps, so there had been little choice in that regard.

Snap had to wonder, though, just how Rudy was feeling right now. On the surface, it looked as if he were tasting freedom again. But in reality, it was more of a vale or illusion, whatever the proper term was. A false promise. Rudy only looked like he was walking again when he was just being guided by a machine, and even that he could not control easily without the utmost concentration.

Perhaps they...

Snap suddenly stiffened up when he thought he heard something. He whipped his head over and stared towards the shadows. Not head on, of course. Just with one of his eyes. He remained still, watching carefully out of that solid white eye of his, looking for any sign of trouble. For a moment he thought he had heard or seen something vaguely resembling Sandra.

The moment he thought of her name, he could feel his hands shooting for his back. He recalled how she had mentioned that she figured out about his prosthetic. The thought brought a cold shudder to his body. It was unlikely that she’d forget about that, no matter how much he hoped that she forgot. And the next time that they meet, what would stop her from targeting this area?

For a moment, he briefly imagined Sandra taking away his ability to walk. The thought caused him to shiver, and he struggled not to gag. He was not going to allow that to happen. He just...had to remain on his toes.

“I think we should keep moving...” Mint spoke up, breaking the small silence. Everyone looked over at him. “I know that we had intended on a slightly longer break, but we cannot stay here.” He furrowed his eyes and looked left and right. “You know who might be lurking somewhere nearby...”

Ah, so it wasn’t just Snap who had sensed something sort of resembling Sandra’s presence. A part of Snap was relieved. Though another part of him was even more on edge than before. He found himself looking around, wondering if Sandra really could be behind them or...

No, he couldn’t let himself look as if he was trying to find her. If she was there, it was best that they act as if they never saw her or suspected that she was there. Or else, they could end up making the situation worse for themselves. Sandra may be like a predator. Try to run too fast, and you are only asking to be attacked.

And it seemed that the others were agreeing. He could see them nodding their heads together. Their expressions told a lot more than what they were murmuring. There was clearly mutual agreement among them of the risk that they were taking. And they all knew that, if they wanted to have a chance to succeed, they needed to keep moving.

With them each giving each other one more glance, the group of friends did not remain where they were for long. They each turned their attention towards the next flight of stairs. They paused for a moment, each taking in a deep breath. There was still a long way to go, and this thing seemed to spiral upwards for a while.

Well...they might as well start.

Penny and Mint kept a tight grip on Rudy, making sure that he did not slip and fall. They guided him towards the stairs, allowing Rudy to make the steps but providing support so that he could not fall down. Snap followed closely behind. He paused and looked behind him, and then he resumed following his friends.

sss

Sandra remained where she was, watching the group as they disappeared up the steps. She had to admit, it was pretty clever of them the way they had drawn Rudy that walking machine. She wondered why they hadn’t thought of it before. Maybe it just never came to mind.

She had her doubts, though, that Rudy would be using it for long. The thing could never be used in the Real World without causing such a fuss, and it looked like it took a lot of concentration for the boy to use. It was just less practical overall compared to the wheelchair. So she imagined that, after this, he’d ditch it and get his wheelchair back.

Or at least, have a new one drawn in case that contraption wouldn’t work anymore. Either way, Rudy would get his wheels back.

And that is exactly what she wanted. Part of her plan with Rudy would involve that wheelchair. She could not have him using that contraption. It would ruin all the fun. When she got a hold of him so she could toy with him, she would be sure to crush that stupid thing into small pieces so that Rudy had no chance of fixing it.

She took a pause and wondered what her next step would be. She did not really worry about them freeing Skrawl. The Beanie Boys know what will happen in that case. They would ensure that they did not get that far into it. This gave her time meanwhile to figure out just how she was going to launch her little fun.

Perhaps she should just let the Beanie Boys have a little fun. Yeah, why not? They did deserve some kind of relaxation after all the hard work they had gone through. And she was certain that they each had a bone to pick with the children anyway. She had her doubts that they would really protest to this. Indeed, she was certain that they would take to the idea right away.

And while they took care of them, she could head down into another part of this castle and set up their... ‘accomodations’. What kind of host would she be if she did not prepare things for her dear ‘friends’? They would thank her for it, really. And if not, that was fine. She can always just tease them and pretend that they were so grateful towards her. All just to drive them a little bit insane.

With her mind made up, Sandra moved up the steps slowly. She could still hear the children ahead of her. She kept her footsteps slow and deliberate. She soon realized that it would take too long this way, so she opted instead for flight. With her arms stretched out, she took off into the air, heading straight upwards to where thetop door was. She still kept herself out of sight; she did not want the children to know that she was onto them. Not yet.

She hovered in one spot, flapping her wings steadily. Her narrowed crimson-colored eyes watched as they headed towards another door. Not the top one like she thought they’d take. Pretty strange... A part of her almost wondered if they knew she was following them and they were just laying in wait.

Well if that were the case, she was not going to buy into their little game. She flew underneath the spiraling staircase and she moved along this way. This kept herself hidden in the shadows, those idiot children unable to see her. She smirked to herself. They were going to need to try a lot harder than this to get the best of her.

She did not get out until she knew she was too high for them to see. Once she did, she took to the air and flew straight up towards the top door. She zipped through the door’s opening, ignoring Skrawl’s surprised shout at her sudden appearance. She landed on the ground and brushed herselsf off.

“Okay, Skrawl, where are those Beanie Boys?” She aked, her hands still moving along her chest and stomach. “I need to have a word with them.”

Skrawl growled softly at this. “And just what do you need them for?” She turned his head to one side, his lip curled up in disgust. “To bring you more of that disgusting bird meat?”

Sandra chortled at this. “No. I have a much better assignment for them.”

“Oh? And what kind of assignment?” Skrawl inquired.

“That is not something that you need to be worried about.” Sandra told him, her mouth still stretched in a smile. “I will just say...it is quite important for this mission. Now...” She looked left and right. She still not see the Beanie Boys anywhere. She continued to smile as she lowered her head slightly, taking a step towards Skrawl. “...where are they...?”

Before Skrawl could speak, another voice called out, “We’re over here...” A defeated tone, but she knew exactly who it was immediately.

Sandra whipped her head and looked over her shoulder. “Ah, Beanie Boys... So glad that you could make it...”

The Beanie Boys did not return her ‘friendly’ smile. Not that she expected it. They looked like they would rather tear her apart. Which was fine...because she was the one in control. The only thing their angered faces did was just amuse her. After all, it wasn’t like they could do anything to stop her. She was holding all the cards now.

“What is it that you want?” One of the Beaie Boys asked in a disgruntled voice.

“Oh I just want you to have a little...fun...” Sandra took a step forward, tapping her feather fingers together in an eager fashion. She tilted her head to one side and eyed them with a single red eye. “I’m sure you will be quite interested in what I have to say....”

She began to relay the plan to them. The plan that, no matter what they felt, they would still have to help her achieve. They had no choice in the matter. They were her little playthings and this was something they will just have to accept.

Of course, eventually...she will make it more...pleasant for them.

sss

Snap had struggled not to say anything. He didn’t want to make himself sound like he was complaining or anything. He also didn’t want to do or say anything that could possibly give them away. But there was just no way that he could keep quiet about this for too long. He struggled for a while to remain silent, but the question inevitably spat out.

“Why did we go this way instead of continuing up?”

At this, he did not get any of his human friends looking at him. Not that he was surprised. They were busy holding onto Rudy, and Rudy himself still had that contraption on his legs; he needed all the concentration that he could get. But he did still end up getting an answer.

Penny was the first one to speak. “You know why, Snap.”

“Yeah...we had seen that shadow on the wall. And you know full well who it looked like.” Mint gave a shudder. It seemed to take him a little more concentration to keep himself focused on moving forward. “At least if we go this way, we might be able to lose her.”

Snap couldn’t really argue with that logic. After all, they did spot what they believed to be Sandra not too long ago. Maybe it was someone else, but the shadow looked too much like her not to be. And she was heading up the stairs... They all knew they had to get moving in a new direction at that point, otherwise she would have spotted them.

At least they were safe for now. If Sandra truly had seen them, then she would be on their tail right now. She had little hinderance holding her back. Nothing to stop her from using her powers to subdue them. But she did not try to pursue them and she just continued up nonstop. Or at least, that’s what their assumption was, considering they did not see her again after that.

Either way, they were free of her for the time being. Of course now they were stuck going down this hallway that they were not familiar with. Who knows how far down this went? And who knew if there was another way back up from this place?

At least Penny knew what this place was. She mentioned that this was the level she had gone to when she had changed herself into her costume for the ‘Chalk Queen’ ruse. She had not traveled that far in, however. But she knew enough to be able to tell them to avoid opening any of the doors. Something about how Skrawl probably rigged the place with booby traps or something. For what reason, they didn’t know. But this was still Skrawl they were talking about, so it wouldn’t surprise any of them if he did something like that.

The place was mostly deserted. Well not mostly. Completely and utterly. They didn’t even hear any Beanie Boys around this place. They didn’t know whether or not this was a good thing. If Skrawl really did join forces with Sandra, then surely his Beanie Boys were around here somewhere. Waiting and watching...

But at the same time, they didn’t even know if Sandra had bothered hooking up with Skrawl at all. They really had no proof of this. Just an assumption. Sandra might not have wanted to have anything to do with Skrawl. That was a very real possibility. There was nothing they learned about her before that suggested that she would have desired a partner to help her out. So maybe she really was ‘flying solo’, in a sense.

Regardless, they still to keep moving along. If they stood around here for too long, they might risk getting themselves captured. So they just kept on moving forward, keeping themselves at a nice, easy pace, looking left and right to make sure that no one was around.

“Do you think there’ll be another way up?” Mint asked. “Or do we have to go back eventually?”

Penny seemed to pause for a moment, rubbing her chin thoughtfully with her free hand. “I think we might find something. If the main staircase suffered damage, I’m sure Skrawl would have wanted to put in another...”

“But Penny... we don’t know if Skrawl is here. Sandra is who occupies this place now.” Mint let out a small grunt as he struggled to keep Rudy from falling. “What if she had taken out these extra stairs or something?”

Penny shook her head. “Unlikely, Mint. Why would Skrawl or Sandra do that?” She stared over at him. One of her eyebrows was cocked upwards. “That would seem like a waste of their time, wouldn’t it? I would think that they would both concentrate more on catching us.”

“Hmm...maybe you are right.” Mint turned his gaze down. His eyes furrowed in concentration. “But still, I...”

Without warning, there was a loud, clanging sound that echoed off the walls all around them. They all froze immediately, looking all around them. That scraping sound.... So loud and seeming to come from all directions... It sent ice through their blood as they huddled closer together, clenching their teeth tightly. None of them could even dare to speak a word. All they could do was just look in all directions, trying to figure out just where that sound was coming from.

Snap was struggling not to pant too heavily. Though he knew it was silly, a part of him couldn’t help but fear that, if he breathed too hard, Sandra or someone might hear him and come jumping at him. That scraping sound that filled the air, it reminded him too much of when Sandra had gone after him, scraping her claws along the wall. The sound was just too shrill for him to forget, and it forced him to relieve the horrific flashbacks plaguing the back of his mind.

Slowly, everything around him seemed to dissipate. He was no longer aware of anything else in this area other than that sound, and he could see the pathway ahead of him, mostly shaded in darkness. He licked his lips and tried to calm his racing heart. It was no use. It just continued to beat faster and faster. And the sound was only getting louder...

Soon it had become booming. It was like a lightning bolt strike everytime that he heard it. His heart was a race car at this point, and he was surprised that it hadn’t burst open yet. He huddled himself together, wrapping his arms around his own body, trembling. He thought he could hear his friends’ comments to him, wondering if he was okay. But he could not bring himself to even say anything to them. He could only stand there and shake.

Then he heard the voices. That horrible voice. He couldn’t tell if he was just hearing things or not. It still felt so real to him.

“What’s the matter, Snap? Don’t like my taste?”

“I’m sure you will love it. I quite enjoyed your flavor after all.”

“It’s not going to be so bad....just close your eyes...”

Snap clutched onto his head, letting out a loud cry in response. He shook his head from side to side, trying to get that horrible, dreadful voice out of his mind. He had to get away from here. He had to get out of here, or else he was going to die. The back of his mind screamed at him to run. That was the only way for him to be safe. He just..had to run...

He reopened his eyes and looked out ahead of him. He stared at the pathway in front of him. How inviting it seemed... Yes, this was the way out, his mind told him. This was how he could get out of here. Away from that hideous monster...

Before he realized what he was doing, he bolted forward.

“Snap!”

“Come back here!”

“No! Stop! Snap, you can’t go out there alone!”

These calls fell on deaf ears. Snap hardly acknowledged them. He was too busy concentrating on running forward, trying to push himself as hard as he could. He didn’t attempt to stop and look back. All he could do was just keep running.

He wasn’t even sure where he was going. He didn’t now how far this tunnel went. He didn’t know what laid on the other side of it. But with that scraping sound getting closer and closer... He really didn’t have much of a choice. He had to keep running in order to protect himself. In the moment, his racing mind could not even think about his friends; he was just too locked in fear and desperation to really notice if they were following him or not.

Down and down through the tunnel he went, his mouth open and panting, his heart still finding ways to beat even faster. His tongue hung out of his mouth and he could feel how dry it was becoming. His eyes, so wide he was surprised they didn’t roll out of his sockets, constantly scanned the land before him. Just darkness and a bright path that seemed to be leading him somewhere. Safety maybe? Or somewhere else? He wouldn’t know unless he continued going down this way.

There, up head, he could see a new path to turn on. This one looked even more inviting than the other way had been. Surely this would lead him to safety, right? Yes...it had to be.

Behind him, he could hear Sandra’s scraping getting closer and closer. He thought for sure he could hear her roaring at him. He could hear more of her calls to him. Taunting him, trying to get him to stop and face her. He chose to ignore her; he couldn’t allow her to get to him like that. No, he had to keep moving on. As soon as he came up to the turn, he immediately veered himself to the side...

...and found himself tripping right into something thick and light, yet strong. Before he had a chance to realize just what had happened, he was yanked upwards into the air. He grunted as he was knocked askew and spun around, dangling up high upside down, his body encased in what he realized was rope.

His heart immediately clenched tightly, nearly bursting wide open from the pressure alone. His mind raced faster, his whole body shaking and burning with adrenaline. He was trapped. His mind screamed at him that he was trapped and that he had to escape. He started to struggle wildly, trying to dislodge himself from this rope. He couldn’t let himself get captured by Sandra. No... this couldn’t happen. He had to get away somehow. He just had to get away...

“Heheheheheh... Look what we got here...”

Snap immediately froze at that voice. It was not Sandra. The voice was too masculine for that. But it still was not a welcome thing for him to hear.

“Looks like we caught ourselves a little pest.” Another voice joined in. “What do you say we do with him...?”

Snap managed to lift his head so he could glare at the Beanie Boys that had surrounded him. Four of them. He did not know if these were the same ones who attacked the hospital or not. Still, he bared his teeth at them and raised up his fists to prepare to fight. If they were going to take him, he was not going to let them get near him without him defending himself.

“Want to fight?!” Snap said quickly. “I’ll fight you! Come on, I dare you!” Snap hardly noticed how desperate he was sounding right now. The only thing that he was aware of was staring off against the Beanie Boys, fully prepared to fight if he had to. “Come on!”

The Beanie Boys glanced at each other, exchanging knowing expressions with each other. They all wore smug smiles and darkened, amused looks on their faces. They then started to laugh coldly, as if this was the funniest thing they had ever seen.

Snap immediately tried to take a swing at them. He missed entirely; as his punch swung upward, he could see that the Beanie Boy that he was trying to target merely bent his head and body backwards and avoided the strike.

The Beanie Boy in question chortled. “My..he is such a little firecracker, isn’t he?”

“Yeah... This is quite entertaining.” Another Beanie Boy commented.

The third one elbowed the fourth one, giving a sneering smile. “I know, why don’t we take him to see Sandra?”

“Yeah! I’m sure they have a lot of catching up to do.”

Although his heart was racing, although every bone in his body was wanting to run off away from them, Snap tried his best not to show any fear. He just glared at the Beanie Boys as they approached him, their hands outstretched as they prepared to grab him.


	19. The Initial Struggle

Around and round we go with the rise and fall of your vertigo.  
-Vertigo, 10 Years

sss

“Snap?!”

“Snap, where are you?!”

“Answer us, please!”

But though the three children shouted as loud as they could, none of them could see or even hear anything from Snap. It was almost as if he had vanished completely. That didn’t make them give up; they kept going. But their fears grew more and more with each step.

“I don’t see him anywhere!” Penny panted heavily, being the furthest ahead from the others. She looked left and right as though to expect Snap on the walls or something. But she saw nothing. “How far could he have gone?!”

“Why did he run off like that, anyway?” Rudy leaned against the nearby wall for support. “He seemed like he was....”

Mint finished for him. “...seeing something that wasn’t there...”

This thought caused a jolt to shoot through their bodies. Was there something going on around them that had resulted in Snap’s sudden take off? Or was it really just the result of all that emotional scarring coming to a head now that they were going to face off against Sandra again? Either way, the situation was quite dire. If they didn’t find Snap soon...

Rudy just couldn’t believe it, though. How could they have let Snap take off like that? The moment that they saw him get all jittery like that, why didn’t one of them grab onto him? It should have been so simple. They were right there with him. They could have grabbed him and stopped him. But instead, they just watched in utter horror as their friend freaked out before them and started to run off. By the time they had realized what happened and tried to call out to him, it was already too late.

It didn’t help that Rudy still had some trouble working these metal legs. It was difficult trying to keep his concentration on both them and on the task at hand. He seemed to be doing pretty well at first....but he wasn’t really sure how long that was going to last. This situation wasn’t exactly the best time to be using them, either.

But right now, he didn’t have much of a choice, did he? He wasn’t about to make his friends draw a wheelchair for him to use, even if a wheelchair would make him more useful than these thought-controlled metal legs they had given him. He was stuck like this...at least for now.

“Come on, we won’t find him standing around here.” Mint went up to Rudy. He reached out to grab onto his arm. “Let’s get going before...”

Without realizing what he was doing, Rudy swatted Mint’s hand back. The older boy took a step away from him and stared at him in shock. Rudy just glared at him, gritting his teeth. “I can walk on my own!” He pushed himself away from the wall, balancing himself using that contraption that was drawn for him. “And what about you?! Why didn’t you grab Snap before he ran off like that?!”

“...Rudy...” Penny whispered.

In that moment, Rudy realized just how he had acted. Horror dawned on him and he pulled his hand back. He stared down at it and he looked over at Mint. He watched as Mint rubbed his hand gently, right on the spot where he had struck him. Immediately Rudy’s head lowered in shame, feeling a bout of guilt moving through him.

“I-I’m sorry, Mint. I-I-I didn’t mean to...” Rudy managed to whisper. He flinched when he felt a hand on his shoulder. He forced his eyes open and he stared up. He could see Mint staring back at him, wearing a small gentle smile on his face. It took Rudy a few moments to realize that it was Mint’s hand that he was feeling.

“It’s okay, Rudy. No need to beat yourself up.” Mint said as he moved himself a little closer. “I understand.”

Rudy felt a strange warmth run through his body. He wasn’t sure if it was because of how close Mint was, or if there was something else going on. Either way, he found himself leaning back slightly. Yet at the same time, his body was also a little stiff, as if it didn’t want to move away. He felt...comforted by his presence. And for some reason, it just felt...different than it usually did.

Rudy did manage to shake off the feeling once he noticed Penny standing there, staring down the hallway. Her body language had changed. She wasn’t merely just standing as though thinking about something. There was a change in her posture. More on edge, more worried, more like she had seen something horrible...

Upon realizing this, Rudy shifted his body upwards a little. He thought he felt Mint grab onto his arm to help support him, but he hardly paid attention to that. His eyes were on Penny only. He licked his lips nervously and he let out a small, shaken word. “P-Penny...?”

Penny slowly turned her head over and stared back at him and Mint. They exchanged glances for several seconds, no one saying a word. Rudy and Mint looked at each other and then back at Penny. Both of them wondered just what had Penny so frozen in shock. It was almost as though she had seen a ghost. Rudy felt his heart skip a beat as he wondered if that’s what Penny really had seen.

Penny soon broke the silence. “Do you...” She stopped for a moment, licking her lips slowly. “Do you guys hear there...?”

“Here what?” Mint looked left and right. “I don’t hear anything...”

Penny tilted her head to one side as she raised it. She cupped her hand agaisnt her ear. “It’s coming from....” She looked around, and then pointed in one direction. “Over there.”

Rudy felt the suspense get to him. “Don’t leave us in the dark, Penny! Tell us, what did you hear?”

“I thought I heard Snap...”

Upon hearing this, Mint and Rudy stared at each other. The implication struck them immediately. If Penny had heard Snap, and if she looked this fearful, then could it be possible that...? Oh no... What if something happened to Snap?

Without thinking, the three of them immediately began to race down the hallway. Rudy struggled to keep up the best that he could. Although he kept nearly tripping several times as he tried to work the machine and run at the same time, he did a decent enough job that he could keep relatively close to his friends. The three of them continued to head down, hoping to find Snap before it was too late.

sss

Snap had no idea just how this could have happened. He thought that he had been doing a good job with keeping his cool in a place like this. He never thought that he would end up in this kind of situation, tied up and dragged down the hallway like he was some kind of toy bag or something.

“Let me go! I’ll make you all sorry!” Snap shouted at the Beanie Boys as they continued to drag him along the ground. They only laughed in response, infuriating Snap further. “I’m warning you! I...!”

“Oh shut up!” One of the Beanie Boys smacked Snap on the head, making him cry out. “You ain’t going anywhere, so you might as well enjoy the ride.”

Snap growled at him. He didn’t bother to respond this time. Not because he was afraid of getting hit again. It was just, he didn’t know what else to say. He had been shouting at these goons for a while and they did not seem to be responding well to his attempts. He might as well just give it a rest for a while as he tried to think of a way to ge tout of here.

But what could he do? He was tied up pretty good in here. The net was twisted around him, hindering his ability to move. He wasn’t gagged, though that hardly did him any good, especially considering that he didn’t know where Rudy, Penny, or Mint were.

At first, he was kind of annoyed that they weren’t around. Hadn’t they been behind him? Did they not see him run and try to catch up? What kind of friends were they?

He immediately felt horrible for having that last thought. Of course they were his friends and they cared so much about him. It was just..he realized that he had been going way too fast. He didn’t try to let them catch up. And they did try to stop him, didn’t they? He was the one who chose to ignore them and continue running. If anything, it was his own fault that he was in this position to start with.

He took in a deep breath and sighed. He couldn’t believe what had happened to him. Why didn’t he control himself more? Why did he allow his emotions to get the better of him? He thought that he had a good handle on that...and then this happens. He hardly even remembered what took place. Just that he had gotten scared about something, and he ran.

Now look at where that had gotten him. Being dragged by this Beanie Boys heading for who knows what kind of destination. The only thing that he knew was on the other side that was...

Sandra...

This left him with a wave of mixed emotions. Fear and determination mostly. On the one hand, Sandra had nearly killed him before. She had ate parts of him, she clearly loved his flavor and taste, and she would likely do it again. She also knew about his prosthetic vertebrate...

...but on the other hand, he did have to face her sooner or later. Maybe if he stayed on edge and was more careful with how he moved towards her, maybe it was possible he could get an attack in. He just needed to aim well enough. Catch her off guard and hit her in the right spot. Then she would go down. Her forehead was especially sensitive due that triangular symbol.

Of course, he’d have to think the action thoroughly; he could not just toss something at Sandra and expect to get away. He would need to get a good assessment of his surroundings. And of course, he needed to be out of this net for him to be able to do anything. And he doubted he was going to get out anytime soon.

The Beanie Boys continued to drag him down the hallway. He grumbled to himself, letting out a yelp as his head hit against a bump or two in the path. He wondered why the Beanie Boys weren’t bothering to carry him. Weren’t they aware that he could escape should they hit something sharp? That this something sharp could theoretically cut through the rope? Or were they really that confident that he wasn’t going to get away? Or they were just plain lazy, weren’t they? Snap ultimately chalked it up to they just didn’t care.

Though his vision was upside down, Snap was able to see where they were headed. There was some kind of large door ahead. They were tall yet thin. The sight of it made him stiffen. Didn’t Mint say something about how the doors looked in Skrawl’s other hideout? Was this....?

No, it couldn’t be. The Beanie Boys had stated that they were taking him to Sandra, didn’t they? But then again, it was possible, and quite believed by him and his friends, that Sandra did join forces with Skrawl. So maybe that jellybean really was behind the door after all. Maybe Skrawl had suggested something ‘fun’ for Sandra to do.

And by fun, he meant fun for Sandra and Skrawl, not for him. Like hell they would care about what he thought.

Feeling his heart start thumping as he approached closer and closer to the impending danger, Snap started to struggle more. In that moment, he didn’t really care if he had encountered Skrawl or Sandra; he just wanted to get out of here. He had to escape. He just had to...

But just...how was he supposed to get out of here? His attempts to get away were futile as he kept getting dragged closer and closer. He could see the door looming over him now. His eyes widened as the door was opened up, revealing the dark room inside. Though he could not see what was inside, he knew that it was nothing good. He flipped himself over onto his back and tried to press his body into the ground to slow himself down. This hardly had any effect and he was soon dragged into the door completely.

Snap soon found himself in quite a large room. He looked left and right, taking notice of just how massive it was. It was a little intimidating seeing it upside down; the tall ceiling made it almost feel as though he was going to drop down onto it. But other than that, he was able to see just how large this place was even when his ability to see everything was a little...hindered to say the least.

He couldn’t see if anyone else was there. He was unable to tell if Sandra was anywhere nearby. She might be...somewhere.... But he couldn’t tell just where she was. Where could she be hiding? And Skrawl...wasn’t he supposed to be in here, too? He was seeing neither of them so far.

That didn’t really mean that he was out of danger, however. He knew that this was only the beginning. He could not see all of the room yet. Just tall walls and ceilings and a few shadows of various things located inside. But he could not actually see where Sandra and Skrawl were. Or if they were even in here in the first place.

The Beanie Boys didn’t show any signs of slowing down. He didn’t know if this meant that they were going to keep flying forward or what. He took advantage of this moment however. So long as the Beanie Boys were busy dragging him, he had a chance to try to wriggle his way free. The Beanie Boys did look a little distracted by whatever was in front of them. So while they weren’t paying attention to him, he focused on trying to get himself free.

So far, he was not having good luck. The ropes that were wrapped around him in this net only tangled further against his body the more that he tried to struggle. Even as he jerked himself from side to side, he seemed to only land himself in further entanglement. He gritted his teeth in annoyance. It shouldn’t be that hard to escape, right? He just needed to find some kind of weakness and...

Aha, here we go. He finally found something. He fumbled his hands against what felt like a larger hole in the net. He pushed his hands through and then tried to pull it apart. Despite this opening being larger, and despite feeling where the tear was, Snap still found it difficult to push it completely apart. No matter how hard he stretched it, it just did not want to fully give way.

He did not give up, however. Squirming his way inside the net, he managed to get himself to face the weak spot himself. He could see the small tear in the rope. He guessed it was from all the dragging around. He tried not to chortle to himself. He knew that, sooner or later, the Beanie Boys dragging him around like this was going to be their downfall. He just needed to make this hole bigger somehow. And if his hands didn’t work, he did have one other option.

Snap opened up his mouth as wide as he could. He pulled the rope towards himself and he positioned it there for several moments. Then, without too much hesitation, he bit down on it as hard as he could.

Of course the rope did not tear right away. He didn’t expect it to. Next, after he had his teeth firmly gripping against the rope, he started to grind his teeth back and forth. It was rather uncomfortable doing this. He felt himself flinch a few times as he struggled to slice the rope with his teeth. He hated the taste of it and the stringiness of the rope seemed to stick to his teeth a little bit. Nonetheless, he kept on grinding, hoping that, if he kept this up, he would soon get results.

And he did. After what felt like about a minute of him chewing on the rope, he could feel something break apart. He released the rope from his mouth and looked down at it. His eyes twinkled when he saw that he had indeed broken through the hole, creating a larger gap in the net. Unfortunately, it was too small for him to fit through. But that wasn’t a problem. He just needed to cut a few more of these and...

Suddenly, before Snap knew it, he found himself being tossed forward. He let out a surprised scream, his eyes bulging, as he was smacked against the ground like a sack of trash. He rolled and tumbled across the ground and he could feel himself getting more and more stuck. He groaned at the few bouts of pain that became present in his body as he hit against the hard floor several times in his rolling around.

When he finally came to a stop, he was on his back, though his body was slightly twisted to one side. He could feel some tightness in several spots where the rope had gotten stuck and tangled. It was almost as if he had been rolling through some field of yarn or something. He let out a groan, shaking his head, and he forced himself to look up.

He immediately froze. He felt his blood already turning into ice. He could feel his mouth panting as his heart rate increased. Although he was not at all surprised to see this person, that did not diminish the horror that he felt upon stumbling here.

“Oh look what you boys have dragged in! Isn’t that so precious?” Sandra said as she held her hands together, holding them in such a way that one would when adoring a little puppy. But from her, it was just downright horrifying. “Why, if it isn’t little Snappy boy! I’m so glad that you could make it!”

Snap cringed at the fake friendliness in her voice. Although she was smiling down at him like she was the kindest person alive, he knew that was all ruse, and he knew Sandra knew that as well. There was really no point in her doing this other than just to mock him; it wasn’t like she could really trick him into believing she was his friend again.

He noticed that the Beanie Boys were no longer holding onto his net. They had actually started to move back away from Sandra. Turning his head over his shoulder, he could see, even from a distance, that the Beanie Boys seemed....afraid. But why? The only thing that he could think of was that Sandra had them locked into some kind of arrangement.

But wait... if that were the case, then was it possible that Skrawl really was not working for Sandra? Then why were the Beanie Boys here? Something about this whole scenario just didn’t make any sense. Snap just couldn’t pinpoint exactly what that was.

He didn’t have time to really worry about that, however, as he saw Sandra approaching him. On instinct, he flattened himself against the ground, trembling slightly. He gritted his teeth in fear as he watched Sandra cautiously. The blue dragon zoner did not try to touch him; she was merely walking around him like a hawk would its prey. Though that did not exactly make him feel better and for quite obvious reasons.

“You even brought him one piece for me. I do appreciate that.” Sandra said in a strangely casual tone, like this was something akin to talking about the weather or something. “It would have been a shame if he had been too hurt right away. I mean... he is the one who wronged me the most...” She turned her head and started down at him with those blood red eyes.

Snap shuddered at the way that Sandra was looking at him. He wanted to squirm and try to get away from her. He couldn’t bring himself to do anything. Now that he was face to face against her, he just couldn’t move.

And those earlier voices, he could hear them in the back of his head, echoing. They seemed to be much stronger at this point, adding to the cold terror in his body. His wide, white eyes couldn’t leave Sandra. He felt as though the moment that he turned his head away, Sandra would strike. He wouldn’t put it past her to do that.

“I would much rather do the punishment myself, you know. It would be much more...satisfying...” Sandra stood next to Snap, stopping her pacing. She lifted her head up and seemed to briefly scan his body before turning her head down to look at him. “Hmm... I am still not certain just what I want to do with him, though. There’s so many choices...”

Neither the Beanie Boys nor Snap dare to speak while Sandra was busy looking over the blue and white zoner’s body like he was just another piece of meat to her. Which, in a way, he was. Snap shut his eyes tightly as he expected Sandra to do something to hurt him now that she had him trapped and unable to get away.

So far, though, she did not even touch him. She looked at him, yes. And she was standing very close. But she did not attempt to touch him, let alone hurt him, in any way. She was just...staring at him. But even with this non-touching thing going on, Snap still could not feel secure. He felt himself wanting to squirm; it took all his will power just to hold still.

Then he felt something on his back. He stiffened up immediately when he felt Sandra put her hand on his back, right around the middle. Snap felt his body tremble at this unwanted touch. What scared him the most was the fact that...this spot was right where his prosthetic vertebrate was....

Back and forth and side to side, her hand, caressing that one spot. Snap flinched and clenched his teeth tightly, waiting for Sandra to do something. He wanted to struggle so badly, especially when Sandra applied a little bit of pressure to the area. Snap couldn’t help but flinch as he felt some of the dull pain return, and his mind reeled as it was being sent back to that horrible moment, with the initial cracking of bone...

Sandra then hooked a claw against the back of his leotard. Snap let out a yelp as her claw nicked at his skin very slightly. She then brought her claw upwards, tearing a small hole in it. Snap shuddered as the cool air caressed his back, chilling him. Snap shut his eyes tighter as he felt Sandra moving her hand along his back some more.

“It is quite remarkable how you heald so quickly, Snap.” Sandra complimented him. He couldn’t tell what kind of expression that she wore, though he would guess that she was at least smirking at him. “Indeed, I hardly see too much of a scratch or bruise or mark here. You must heal quite well.”

If Sandra was expecting Snap to say ‘thank you’ to that, well she wasn’t going to get it. Snap did nothing more than turned his head and glared up at her, his teeth bared.

Sandra merely chortled at this. “No need to feel so upset, Snap. I’m just telling you how impressed that I am.”

“And I’m showing you how little I care about your opinion..” Snap growled at her.

Sandra feigned a slightly hurt look. “Oh...I see...” She removed her hand from his back. “Well then...” She scanned her eyes along his back. She still mostly focused on the middle, right where Mint had struck him all those years ago. “I am still pretty impressed. But..that is not why I had you dragged out here.”

“Of course it isn’t...” Snap rolled his eyes. “Why would it be?”

Sandra didn’t seem to notice the tone in his voice, or she at least chose to ignore it. She pressed on, “I do think that you will make such a fine....” Snap expected her to say something like meal or whatever. But what she did end up saying caused him to shiver in startlement. “...luring rod.”

“What...?”

“You heard me, Snap.” Sandra began to pace around him slowly, eyeing him up and donw. “Did you really think that I was going to stop only with you? Oh dear me, no! I still have some other...candidates that I would want as well.”

Snap’s mind raced as he realized what Sandra was talking about. He bared his teeth at her and struggle against the ropes. “Don’t you fucking dare...!”

Sandra laughed at this. She reached down towards him and cupped his chin. “Well you aren’t the one in charge me, are you, little Snap?” The superhero zoner growled in response to this and struggled to jerk his head away. Sandra just tightened her grip as she let out another chuckle. “You are in no position to tell me what to do... So why don’t you take a seat back and...enjoy the ride...?”

Snap started to struggle more frantically. He didn’t get too far in his struggling when he felt Sandra suddenly drive one of her large talons into his back, warm blood already seeping out of the puncture. Immediately, Snap’s eyes went wide and he released a loud, echoing scream.

And then Sandra started to drag her talon downward...

Snap struggled not to scream again. His eyes clinched tightly, feeling hot tears streaming down his face. The horrible pain radiated through his body, practically burning a line along his back where Sandra’s claw was. He could feel more blood seeping down along his back. Unable to hold it back any longer, Snap let out another scream.

sss

Penny wasn’t sure how long they had been running down this way. And at the moment, she didn’t care. The only thing she wanted to do was try to find Snap. She had heard him cry out befeore. She was certain that it was him. If Snap was in danger, they all had to find him as soon as possible. Or else they...

But just where could Snap have been taken? And by whom? She hadn’t really heard the captors’ voices. She didn’t know if it was Sandra or Skrawl or someone else. She only knew that someone had hurt Snap. What else could have made him scream like that? It sounded way too agony-filled to be nothing more than a fear scream. No, something terrible had happened to him and she needed to figure out what that was.

Behind her, she could hear Rudy and Mint try to catch up to her. She did feel bad about going so fast. A part of her really did want to slow down so that they could keep up with her. Yet at the same time, she just...couldn’t bring herself to stop. How could she? She needed to keep moving, especially if Snap was in danger. At least her two friends will be able to keep up; they were doing a pretty good job of that right now.

Now if only they could...

Suddenly a loud scream echoed through the air.

“Aaaaahhhhh!”

Penny felt her heart twist in a knot. She recognized that scream right away.

It was Snap...

At the loud scream, she suddenly came to a screeching halt, nearly falling forward. She thought she could nearly feel her friends colliding with her from behind. She didn’t bother looking behind her, however, and she kept her attention focused at her friend. Her eyes weren’t looking at anything in particular; she just stood there, wide eyed as she tried to listen for another scream. When it didn’t come, she felt her heart racing against her chest.

Oh no... Snap... What had happened to him...? Why wasn’t he screaming again? Why had he screamed at all? What was being done to him...?

Penny shot a look behind her, staring at her two friends. She could see the look of horror on their faces. Both Mint and Rudy looked equally terrified, their mouths open, obviously wanting to speak and yet unable to bring themselves to say anything. They were just...horrified. Completely and utterly horrified.

Penny did not waste any time. Turning her head to face the front, she narrowed her eyes into slits and, after a few seconds, she immediately took off. Behind her, she could hear Mint and Rudy struggling to catch up to her again. They all ran as fast as they could, determination crawling up in the back of their minds, all of them equally eager to get to wherever the scream had come from.

Penny hoped that Snap could hold on. Whatever was happening to him, she silently begged and pleaded that he would be all right. She and her friends were on their way. They would get him back. And then they would teach his captor what happens when you mess with her friends.

But of course, the question was...

...would they be able to find Snap before it was too late...?

She stopped in her tracks once more when she detected something. She could hear Mint and Rudy come to a stop as well not far behind her. She wasn’t really sure if it was because they had heard something as well, or if they were just mimicking her movements and watching her to see her reaction.

Nonetheless, she remained still, slowly turning her head from one side and to the other. She scanned the land around her, trying to figure out if she could detect the same thing again. It had been some kind of short-lived sound. Quick and rapid, and somehow vaguely familiar despite the fact that she could not really see the source. It was somewhere around here... But the question was... where?

There, she heard it again. She whipped her head back and looked left and right, struggling to pinpoint the exact location. It almost seemed to bounce off the walls, distorting its direction. But something was here. No...it was someone. She heard enough to tell that this sound was something made by a person.

She kept listening intently and after a few moments, she started to recognize the sound as laughter. Very familiar laughter.... Though she still could not quite put her finger on it. She wasn’t even sure why. She had a feleing that she should know whom this laughter belonged to. And yet she was having a hard time pinpointing the exact origin. And somehow, she felt as though she should know this. So...why couldn’t she figure it out?

She turned her head over to look behind her, staring at Rudy and Mint. They weren’t looking directly at her; they were instead looking off in different directions themselves. They, too, could not seem to find anything. There was nothing about their expressions that suggested they had detected anything of interest. Oh they could hear the sound, yes. They were just unable to identify who was making it.

About the only thing that the group of friends could do was detect how far away or close the sounds were. And judging by how much louder they were getting, it was gradually getting closer. The closer that it got, the more familiar it sounded. So it stood to reason that, if they waited until it got close enough, they might be able to figure out who it was. But the question was...

...would they have enough time to counteract by the time that this happened?

Before they could even answer that question for themselves, the sounds just...stopped. All at once, too, with absolutely no warning. It had become dead silent, despite the fact that a second ago, they had heard loud yet somewhat distorted laughing. It was almost as though someone had turned the mute button on. And it made the whole situation feel even more eerie than it had been when they had been hearing the sound in the first place.

Penny tensed her body up. She could feel Rudy and Mint moving close to her, putting their bodies near her. They all put their backs to one another and they looked left and right. They tried to look for something, anything. A shadow, a flash of light, any sign that someone was there. But it was just so quiet. It really did seem like the individual following them had just vanished.

This was not good.

“What should we do?” Mint was the first one to speak up. “Should we split up and try to see....”

Rudy shook his head. “That’s probably what they want us to do! We need to stick together!”

“But then we are sitting ducks!”

“We’ll be even more so if we split up! Let’s just stick together!”

As Rudy and Mint had their back and forth banter about whether or not to split up, Penny focused her attention on one part of the hallway. Located right behind Mint, she thought she could see something move. It was a little difficult to tell as Mint’s presence obscured the wall. Yet she was too nervous to left her position to walk around and look, so she made do with what she was able to see.

Soon, after staring at it long enough, she did in fact start seeing something. Some kind of shadow, moving from upward. Carrying something long, like...

Her eyes widened in horror.

It was a blade.

“Mint! Look out!” Penny shouted. She didn’t bother waiting for Mint to respond. As the boy looked behind him, Penny had already grabbed on and yanked him back. The two of them fell into the ground, leaving Rudy the only one standing, and even he was losing his balance as his mind became torn from this event and from trying to keep himself standing.

As soon as Penny yanked Mint back, there was a loud clanging sound that echoed off the walls around them. They stared at the spot where the blade had landed and they slowly looked up to see where it had come from.

There, flying overhead, was one of the Beanie Boys. A dark smile was spread across his face and he looked ready to attack at any moment. The group of friends immediately adopted defensive postures. Their first instinct was to try fighting with the magic chalk, but then they gave pause. Something did not seem right here. Why would this Beanie Boy risk attacking three humans at once?

Penny could feel the back of her mind chilling as she realized that it had to be some kind of trap. There was something else going on here. The other Beanie Boys were probably laying in wait. They must have something set up, a trap that would trigger the moment that they tried to draw something. They will need to fight the Beanie Boy without using their chalk. But just...how were they going to be able to do that?

They weren’t able to think quickly enough before the Beanie Boy dove towards them to attack. He raised up the blade once more, the tip of it glinting in what light was available. He struck down as hard as he could, the metal that made up the blade practically bouncing as it collided with the wall. The three friends were able to dodge out of the way before either of them were hit.

Penny’s eyes widened in horror upon realizing that Rudy was not going to be able to dodge for very long. That one dodge had already destabilized him enough. She could see the way that his legs were wobbly and bending in on one another. If the Beanie Boy were to try striking again and if Rudy had to jump yet again...

Narrowing her eyes, Penny realized there was only one solution. Even if this could lead to a trap, she still pulled out her magic chalk and quickly began to draw. Soon she held a small bat in her hands. She did not hesitate to rush over as the Beanie Boy zeroed in on Rudy, having chosen him as his next target. Poor Rudy was just too wobbly; there was no way that he was going to be able to dodge this. And the Beanie Boy knew it.

Penny struggled to move as quickly as she could, trying to cover as much ground as possible with each stride. Everything seemed to happen in slow motion as the Beanie Boy raised his weapon up once more, the tip of it glinting. Her eyes widened as she saw it moving down. This, too, seemed to happen at a snail’s pace. She pushed herself to go faster, unwilling to allow Rudy to fall prey to this evil zoner’s attack. As soon as she got close enough, she struck.

There was a loud clanging sound as the sword was knocked eskew, sending flying across the ground. At this point, Rudy had fallen to the ground. Mint had rushed over and started to help him back to his feet. Rudy was not staring at Mint however; his eyes were on Penny, as were Mint’s.

She herself had some trouble believing that she had managed to hit her target. The blade rested several feet away. The Beanie Boy looked absolutely shocked by this turn of events, the look on his face clearly indicating that he hadn’t expected something like this to happen. It almost seemed like, at any moment, he was going to flee, yet somehow he still remained there.

However, the state of shock didn’t last long. The Beanie Boy, weapon or no weapon, still seemed determined to fight. He glared down at Penny, baring his teeth in an almost maniacal fashion. It was almost uncomfortable to look at; it was far more disturbing than what she would have expected from a Beanie Boy. A part of her almost wondered if this was the same Beanie Boy she had threatened to hurt before. And if it was...well that would most certainly explain this expression that he was giving to her.

Nonetheless, Penny did not back down. She raised up the bat again and rushed over, aiming to try to disable the Beanie Boy so that they could try to interrogate him. And perhaps even keep the other Beanie Boys at bay. Surely they wouldn’t want to risk their little friend getting hurt.

Penny was not even sure of what happened in that moment. As soon as she and the Beanie Boy were up at each other, the only thing on her mind was trying to knock him down. She didn’t know if Rudy or Mint were staring at her or not, let alone what kind of reactions that they were having from this. Admittingly, Penny did feel a little unlike herself doing this. It was almost as if someone else was pulling the strings.

In spite of that, she still continued to fight. She swung the bat around, struggling to strike the Beanie Boy down. At first, she had been more careful not to hit anything important. But the more the fight went on, the more...irrational Penny seemed to get with her strikes. She was just getting desperate at this point. But she doubted anyone would blame her. This was their one chance at getting some kind of upperhand. At least against the other Beanie Boys. And of course possibly their only chance at figuring out where Snap had been taken, and getting him back.

Finally, after what seemed like forever, Penny managed to actually hit the Beanie Boy. The flying zoner may have been able to dodge for a while, but his insistance on getting close to her instead of backing off ultimately bit him back in the behind as the bat slammed against his side. Penny couldn’t help but flinch as she watched the Beanie Boy collide into the ground.

For a while, they all just stared at one nother. Nothing but silence. No sound. Not even a small mumble. Even their breathing had been very quiet, to the point where if they weren’t seeing each other right now, they’d probably be wondering if there was anyone here at all.

Penny refused to take her eyes off the Beanie Boy in front of her. She kept a good, tight grip on the club, keeping it slightly raised so that he knew that she was not afraid to use it again. She hoped that the Beanie Boy would be discouraged and submit upon seeing this, but she had a strong feeling that there was still going to be some kind of initial struggle. Which she had a feeling would be the case; the Beanie Boy wouldn’t likely back down this easily, would he?

She turned out to be correct. Acting quicker than she had imagined him moving, the Beanie Boy suddenly launched himself at her. This time, Penny had been too caught off guard and she was not able to swing in time. The Beanie Boy wrapped his arms around the girl’s body and threw her into the ground. Penny let out a grunt as her back rammed into the hard surface. She gritted her teeth as she looked up towards the angered Beanie Boy.

It did look as if the Beanie Boy was about to speak. But if he was, he never got really far with that. For a few moments later, Mint had taken action. A large, metal foot rammed against the Beanie Boy as Mint kicked out his left leg. The Beanie Boy let out a scream as he fumbled through the air, struggling to regain his balance.

“Are you okay?!” Mint cried out as he reached down with his hand.

Penny took it and she let out a few small coughs as Mint pulled her up from the ground. “Y-Yeah... Thanks...” Once she was steady on her feet and wiped herself off, she turned and glared in the direction of the Beanie Boy. “We can’t let him get away.”

“And we won’t!” Rudy declared as he ran out past the others. “Come on!”

Penny froze for a second. Seeing Rudy run like that made her heart skip a beat. What if he accidentally tripped himself up? His temporary ‘metalized’ leg was not perfect in helping him. It being operatable by thought had been a terrible choice given this kind of situation. Rudy had so little training in this that...

But there was no time to stand around. Narrowing her eyes in determination, she and Mint ran off after Rudy. The three of them began their hot pursuit of the Beanie Boy, chasing him down the hallway.

None of them were certain just how long they had been running. To Penny, it almost felt like an hour, though somehow she had a feeling that it’s only been a few minutes. Her very perception of time had been eskewed and she was no longer certain of just what the passage of time really was.

Despite that, she just kept on running. Right now, it didn’t really matter how long they had been going like this; the fact that they were still in this hallway and weren’t collapsed into exhaustion meant that not too much time could have passed. They had to keep their focus on trying to catch this darn Beanie Boy. If they could just keep up the pace...

But that was getting steadily more and more difficult. They turned left and right rapidly, going down what appeared to be random hallways. Penny had no idea if they were even going the right way or not. There were several points were it almost seemed like they had lost the Beanie Boy, only to catch sight of him a moment later. They pushed themselves to go faster and faster, although it seemed like, no matter how hard they tried, they just weren’t getting any closer to the Beanie Boy.

But they couldn’t give up. That simply wasn’t an option. They had to catch this guy. There wasn’t much of a choice, They had to catch him and make him tell them where Snap was. They...

Suddenly they came to an uprupt stop. They found themselves in a new hallway now. The walls were lined with torches. From the looks of it, Penny realized that they had to have been recently put up. Could the Beanie Boy have....? No, there wasn’t enough time. Yet it was all just... Penny shook her head and she and her friends moved cautiously towards the door that was situated at the very end of the hallway.

Soon they stopped about five feet in front of the door. They noted how tall it was, and thin as well. Rudy and Penny exchanged confused looks with each other. But Mint was another story entirely.

Penny noticed how Mint seemed to be afraid. His body had started to shake and he took a few steps back. “Mint? What’s wrong?”

“I-I...” Mint started to say.

“Do you recognize this place?” Rudy asked gently. “From the look on your face, it looks as if you’d seen this somewhere before...”

“Well, I..” Mint licked his lips nervously. “Well, not this specific place, o-of course. I-It’s just that...” Mint paused as he turned his head back, looking up at the door structure before him. “This just reminds me too much of Skrawl’s office...” He slowly looked over at his friends, a partially wild look in his eyes. “I still remember that time when Skrawl called me into his office...”

Rudy and Penny looked at Mint sympathetically. The older boy had divulged to them that story shortly after he had joined them as part of the team. Skrawl had called Mint in after he had shown mercy to them, and was punished for it. The memory of it brought their blood to a boil, knowing that Skrawl had done something like that. But at least it didn’t get any worse than that.

Rudy moved his way towards Mint. He did nearly trip once, but nonetheless was able to keep himself from falling down. He reached over with a hand and placed it on his shoulder, trying to comfort him. No words, just a gentle touch and expression. Mint smiled back and he appeared to calm down a little.

The three friends were soon able to shift their gaze back at the door. Despite some existing hesitance, they got themselves to move forward, heading straight for the door. This may be their one chance in getting their friend back. They couldn’t back out of it now. So slowly, steadily, they made their way over.

When they had gotten close enough to the door, they reached out with their hands and, working together, they grabbed the door and opened it. The door felt a little heavy and there was a loud creaking sound as the door swung open to the side. This exposed a large, darkened room which seemed mostly empty. Save for one little thing...

“S-Snap...?” Rudy whispered.

There, sitting in the middle of the room, was indeed Snap. He was laying on the ground, covered in some kind of net. He appeared to be struggling on the ground, his body shaking as though he was in great pain. And upon seeing the redness on his back... Blood...

Penny could feel her heart tighten upon seeing him. Her mind was awash with emotion and she found it difficult to look away. She felt her breath start to increase and it was growing incredibly diffcult to just stand around and do nothing. She could feel the adrenaline rising up inside of her body, and she so wanted to rush over towards their friend.

And yet something still felt wrong about this. Something wasn’t right... But she couldn’t pinpiont exactly what that was.

However, it seemed that Rudy didn’t seem to sense anything out of the ordinary. The boy, though relieved that Snap was still alive, had a horror stricken look on his face, and he had rushed over towards his injured friend. Mint had fallen suit behind him, keeping close. Though Penny still felt as if something was off about the whole thing, she too joined in the rush.

Snap lifted up his head and he stared back at them. They had expected him to be happy to see them. But instead, his eyes had immediately widened, as if something was terribly wrong. Before any of them could even begin to ask what was wrong, Snap opened his mouth and let out a scream.

“Get away!” Snap managed to wheeze, letting out a pained cough as he trembled. “I-It’s a trap!”

Penny’s eyes immediately bulged. So that’s why this had all started to feel a little too easy...

Almost immediately as Snap screamed, they heard something loud and clanging start barrelling down towards them. Penny tilted her head up and she could see the shadow of something massive coming down. Her heart skipped a beat when she realized that it was moving too fast for her to use the magic chalk. Way too fast..

Turning herself around, she dove towards her friends. They all grunted as they slammed into the ground. They coughed and spluttered as they lifted their heads up to see what was coming down.

A second later, there was a loud thud.


	20. Taken Prisoner

...I'm frozen but what can I do?  
-Frozen, Within Temptation

sss

Everything was dark. Pitch black. She couldn’t see anything around her, and she could feel some kind of tightness around her eyes. At first, she thought that something had happened to her face, like she had been struck by something or... She wasn’t really sure. But whatever it was, the fact that she couldn’t see caused fear to rise up inside of her.

Where was she? What had happened to her? This and many more questions swirled through her mind as she struggled to make sense of everything. For a moment, she couldn’t really remember much. She recalled something falling and...

Her friends... What happened to her friends..?

Penny struggled to look around. But all she could see was more pitch blackness. It was as if some kind of curtain had been pulled over her eyes, not allowing her to see anything. She could feel her breathing quicken, her mouth feeling as if it was going to go dry at any moment. There had to be something that she could do. She just couldn’t...

She felt something move on her face. After a little bit of experimentation, she realized that they were her eyelids that she was moving. And following that came another realization: she had her eyes squinted shut.

Penny ignored the feelings of stupidity as she forced her eyes open, instantly being greeted by the image of a large, open room. Most of her vision was obscured by something large and kinda blurry. She felt a strange warmth as well, and her breathing had been joined in by a few hours. Moving her eyes along, she soon realized just what had happened.

Mint had used himself as a shield.

The boy had his body hunched over her and Rudy. The two of them had been pressed down lower towards the ground. She and Rudy were pressed up against one another as Mint shielded them with his body. Penny could see how tightly his eyes were clinched shut, his teeth gritted. For a few moments, it looked as if he had been injured and Penny could feel her heart skipping a beat.

When she moved her head to the side a little to try to see more, she felt a wave of relief strike her when she realized that Mint hadn’t actually been hit; he only thought that he was going to be. But given what she was seeing all around them, that sense of relief did not last that long.

It didn’t take her very long to realize that they were inside a large cage. Not exactly the best looking cage; it looked rather makeshift, as if put together at the last moment. But nonetheless, it was still a cage of some kind. And quite heavy; she could see where it indented into the ground from the impact. They were completely surrounded by the metal rim and metal bars that stretched upward, banding around like some kind of jigsaw puzzle. There was nowhere for them to escape.

Slowly, she and her friends began to rise up to their feet. Mint let out a groan as he stretched out his aching back while Rudy let out a grunt as he tried to regain his balance. Penny remained silent as she looked around, hoping to find something that they could use to get out of here with. But she could see nothing.

She could no longer see the Beanie Boys. She couldn’t tell if they were hiding the shadows or if they had truly left. Not that she cared; she was not interested in seeing their smirking faces. No, instead there was someone else she was more interested in seeing.

She moved herself up towards the nearest set of bars and gripped her hands on it. She looked left and right, struggling to find where her friend was. Which direction had Snap been in? Looking all around, she didn’t see him here. Was he on the other side?

Moving herself to the other side as quickly as she could, she was soon able to see a flash of blue on the ground. Her eyes immediately widened when she saw Snap squirming on the ground. She could hear a few small whimpers coming from him and her eyes focused on the red marks on his back. She felt her heart tighten in her chest. Just...what had happened to her friend...?

Her mind immediately began to burn when she realized just what had happened. She was already aware that she and her friends had been lured into a trap. But what made her feel sick was just..how they had been lured. Because it wasn’t as simple as them being led down here by the Beanie Boys. No, these fucking monsters, Sandra or Skrawl or both or whatever, they just had to go a step further, didn’t they? Instead of keeping it simple, something that would have worked, they decided to fuck with their hearts and minds by targeting Snap...

Their poor friend... He had been through enough in the past, and yet they still found the time to tear open his back and leave him in the middle of a room to draw them in. Snap was out there, all alone, quivering in pain, and she and her two other friends were trapped and they could do nothing to help. Every time Snap let out a groan, Penny really wanted to do something to help him, but she could not fit in through these bars. It was just...impossible.

She gripped onto the bars and tried to pry them apart. She wasn’t really sure why she was even attempting to do this. There was no way that she would be able to break through. But still, here she was, trying to rip her way out of here. No matter how strong she was, she just could not break open those bars and she found herself nearly collapsing from the shere burning exhaustion in her arms. She released the bars and panted a couple of times.

“Aww... is the little girl wanting out..?” A voice called out.

At this, Penny immediately lifted her head and looked around frantically. She could see that Mint and Rudy were also trying to find the source of the voice. But other than Snap, all they could see around them was just darkness and emptiness. Where was that voice coming from then...?

Then they happened to look up. Craning their heads back, they could see a shadow descending upon them swiftly. A shadow moving swiftly about, a shade of blue, flash of azure, and then they could see a pair of eyes staring at them. A pair of familiar red eyes...

“You...” Mint gritted his teeth. “Let us out of here, you dragon freak!”

“Is that any way of greting your host?” Sandra tilted her head to the side. She raised up an eyebrow. “And really, my dear creator... I would have thought that you’d come up with a better threat than that. Are you running out of ideas or something?” She raised her hand in gesture, motioning towards him. Mint said nothing, just glared at her. Sandra just shrugged her shoulders. “Well I am very interested in seeing how all of you are doing.”

“Why the fuck would you care...?” Rudy hissed softly. “You have already shown that you don’t care about any of us! Wouldn’t you just much rather see us all dead on the ground or something?”

“Yeah, why do you care if we’re fine or not?” Mint narrowed his eyes. “Or are you just trying to find ways to torment us more? You seem to be quite good at that...”

Sandra gave another passive shrug. “Think whatever you want. There is really no crime in curiosity. And I am so curious about you all...” Sandra gave a grin, spreading it across her face. She gave a quick chuckle, placing her hand towards her mouth. “I mean, what kind of idiot would fall for such an obvious trap...?” She looked over in the direction where Snap was. “I mean... you didn’t see that coming? You honestly didn’t see that coming at all?”

Rudy gripped his hands against the bars, pressing his face close as if he were going to try crawling out through the very small opening. “How dare you use Snap as some kind of bait!”

Sandra curled her lip back in a partial grin. “Hey it worked, didn’t it? And at least I was able to find some kind of use for the little runt. I mean..” She moved closer to Snap and stroked his head back and forth. “At least he got one good use out of him before I...”

“Don’t you fucking dare!” Penny found herself shouting. “Just..don’t you fucking dare try to...”

“Try to what?” Sandra’s voice was quite passive. It was clear that she didn’t have a care in the world about this. She was just...way too calm about the whole thing. With the dismissive gestures that she was making, it was all just casual to her. “All I did was give Snap a purpose. A brief one. But why are you upset?” She narrowed one eye in the glaring teenagers’ direction. “You know, I easily could have just killed him...”

Penny was struggling so much not to say anything. She was trying not to allow her emotions get in the way. She wanted to just remain quiet and calm and try to think her way out of this. But how can she with the way this dragon zoner was talking about her friend? It was just...so disgusting and disrespectful and yet Sandra still dared to act as if it was fine, as if she hadn’t done anything wrong. The same kind of dismissive behavior that she had years ago.

Sandra just won’t change...

Her heart skipped a beat when she saw Sandra lower herself towards Snap. The blue and white zoner seemed to almost come to life upon seeing Sandra there. He started to squirm and struggle more wildly at her presence. But he was otherwise just...trapped there and unable to do anything. He could only stare up at Sandra, his wide fear-filled eyes locking onto the blue dragon, watching as she drew herself closer to him.

Upon seeing just how close Sandra was getting, Penny could feel her heart skipping several beats. A sense of helplessness clutched at her just and just...could not tear her eyes away. No, Snap... What was Sandra going to do to Snap? Hadn’t he suffered enough already...?

Sandra raised her foot up and placed it against Snap’s back. She pressed the tips of her talons into his back, causing the zoner to start flinching. Penny and her friends let out a series of shouts, hoping to discourage Sandra from attempting to press the claws in deeper. But it was useless, nothing they did or said would get Sandra to relent.

More blood started to seep down Snap’s injuries, staining the ground. The claws hadn’t really penetrated that deeply thankfully. But that didn’t really mean much. Especially with Sandra’s super healing capability...

“Stop that! Let him go!” Rudy shouted when he couldn’t take it anymore. “He didn’t do anything! Just let him go!”

Sandra lifted her head up and she glared in the direction of Rudy. She curled her lip back into a snarl. “This little fucker betrayed me... He shattered my trust... He ruined my reputation...” She tilted her head to one side. “If there is one thing that I would appreciate from you, stupid child, it’s you not trying to fill my head with lies....”

“But he’s telling the truth! You’re the one who tried to..”

Sandra raised her hand up. “I know where this is going and let me save you all the trouble. A bunch of promise breakers aren’t going to make me change my mind...”

Penny and her friends growled at this statement. It was so easy to try to tear into her verbally for that. There was just so much that they could and would want to say to her. The mere fact that she stell held onto that disgusting belief... Sandra was a disgrace to real promises everywhere. She would deny that to her grave, but they all knew that it was true. She is the one that ruined the so-called ‘sanctity of the promise’, not any of them. She was just too stubborn to see that.

Though it was so tempting to say something, Penny forced herself to remain quiet. There was little that they could do, really. Their best bet was just to stay quiet. It was difficult, but Penny managed to do it. She was glad that Rudy and Mint also managed to keep thesmelves silent. In this particular situation, trying to argue with someone who had absolutely no intent in listening to them was not going to yield them any results. It was just best to wait and see if an opportunity presented itself. They would get out of here. It just might...take a while.

Penny’s eyes rested upon Snap. She gritted her teeth. What about their friend? There wasn’t anything that they could do from within here. Even if they got out the magic chalk now and drew, Sandra could see everything; they weren’t that well hidden. And she was too close to Snap. Those claws digging into his already bleeding, injured back... No doubt she would drive them further in should they try to do anything to help him.

Penny held some confidence that Sandra was not going to try killing Snap just yet. She remembered how she was at the trial, how insane she had acted when she got her sentence. There was no doubt in her mind that, if Sandra really wanted Snap dead in that moment, she would have just bit out his throat or something and be done with it. The fact that she hadn’t tried that yet suggested that she might want him alive for at least some time.

But exactly how long...she wasn’t sure. And honestly, she had her doubts that her keeping Snap alive was that much better. She knew just how cruel and unkind Sandra could be. And now that she was unhinged... Who knows just what she might have planned...?

Sandra gave a small chuckle as she lowered down a feather finger and traced it lazily along the top of Snap’s head. The zoner let out a small whimper at this, cringing at the mere tough. “I am still amazed that you all were able to even get here so early... Oh I had been expecting you, but not this fast.”

“You were expecting us...?” Snap managed to say, his voice having a pained tone to it.

“Oh yes, Snacks. I have...” Sandra sneered.

“It’s..Snap...” The blue and white zoner replied, his teeth gritted. He looked as if he was going to say something else, but Sandra merely applied pressure to his back, making him scream.

“Snap!” Rudy called out.

Sandra just smirked down at Snap’s screaming, and then continued to speak as though nothing happened. “And I am amazed that you all fell for my trap so easily.” She closed her eyes, smirking as she raised her hand up in gesture. “I mean, I thought for sure that you all would have noticed....at least something.... But you were all just too easily misguided. It was too easy luring you here. Just like a bunch of cattle...”

The three humans growled at this. They wanted to say something so badly, but in that moment, they couldn’t really think of anything. Their minds were too focused on Snap. Sandra had let up on him for now, but those claws were still set on his back. At any given, moment, she could make another move...

Penny could feel her heart racing against her chest. Her mind swirled with rapidly moving thoughts, and she struggled to control her breathing, not wanting Sandra to get the benefit of knowing that she was making her uncomfortable.

But that did little to settle down the thoughts in her mind. The fact that Sandra had referred to them as ‘cattle’ was bad enough. It already gave them a good, clear idea of just how she thought of them. Especially Snap. But what chilled her mind the most was...in some ways, Sandra was correct. They really had fallen for her trap and they really should have been more careful. They probably could have avoided this whole mess, but instead, they just...

She shook the thoughts out of her head. It was too late right now to do anything about that. They were here now. All they could do at this point was just move forward. They needed to figure out a way out of here. But the question was....just how...?

She could feel her mind’s gears turning as she struggled to think of a plan. At first, she couldn’t really think of anything that could help. She tried and she tried, but...nothing seemed to come up. It was as if her mind had been stripped bare of any and all thought. Just...nothing would come to her mind. She struggled to fight against the horrible feeling in her stomach as she continued to think as hard as she could. There had to be....something they could do, right? Anything...

But right now...there really was nothing. They would have to wait even longer to try to figure something out. Sandra was in too precarious of a position for them to risk taking out the magic chalk and drawing anything. And she had a feeling that she would do something if they so much as reached out of the bars to try to stop her. Their only option right now as just...wait. Wait for the right moment.

Of course, would they even know the right moment?

Sandra turned her gaze back down towards Snap. She eyed him carefully, as if trying to debate on just what she wanted to do. After what felt like several minutes, she lifted her head up and she stared over at them. Her expression was...unreadable. Almost any thought could be on her mind right then, and none of them would really know what she was thinking of. This alone was enough to put them all on edge as they waited to see just what she was going to do.

“I can sense you all want to leave. Isn’t that a shame?” Sandra’s expression altered a little, and she looked almost disappointed. “I had hoped that you would have wanted to stay here longer and...” She brought her hands together, tapping her feather fingers against one another. “...chat..”

“You fucking monster!” Mint blurted out. He moved himself closer to the front of the cage, gripping the bars tightly. “Why the hell would we want to chat with someone like you?!”

“After the way you killed those innocent zoners...!” Rudy’s body quaked in rage.

Penny felt a sting in her chest as she remembered the way those zoners had been so heartlessly killed. Sandra was clearly showing no remorse for her actions, and this caused her stomach to swirl in disgust. She swallowed the lump in her throat. “What you did was absolutely disgusting, Sandra... Have you no shame in what you did?!”

“Shame in what?” Sandra asked in an innocent tone.

Forming a fist with her hand, Penny shot it out at one side swiftly, a token of just how angry she was. “You killed countless innocent zoners who hadn’t done a fucking thing to you!”

Sandra rolled her eyes at this. “All of them were, in a way, responsible for me being wrongfully sent to jail.” She lowered her head and gave a snarling smile. “They deserved what they got...”

Mint pounded his fist against the bar. “You’re a fucking monster!”

Sandra stared at the three of them with cold, red eyes. “Not as big of a monster as you all are..” She tilted her head slightly to the side as she raised it up. “None of you try to see things my way. You all advocate ‘open-mindedness’, based on what I knew of you before. But you don’t give me the same treatment. Just a bunch of hypocrites, you are...” She lowered her head, her ears twisting backwards. “...I had hoped to get treated fairly, but I guess from you lot, that is too much to ask...”

Snap spluttered a little before he managed to say, “W-We do try to see others’ points of views, Sandra... I-It’s just that...” Snap tilted his head and he stared up at Sandra. “Your beliefs were hurting people. I mean, really hurting people. And y-you’re one to talk...about not giving others’ views a chance. Y-You don’t try to see where we came from with...”

“Shut up, Snacks!” Sandra raised a fist and she struck down against the back of Snap’s head. “Keep your spluttering treachery to yourself!”

The gasped in horror at this harsh treatment of their friend. They gritted their teeth as they narrowed their previously widened eyes. They could feel their bodies trembling in rage as they watched just how cruelly Sandra was treating their friend. Calling him ‘Snacks’ was just the tip of the fiery match of the whole thing.

Penny could feel her heart twist as she watched Snap shut his eyes and let out a whimper. The poor little guy couldn’t even bring himself to fight back. Not while he was in that position. So close to the one who nearly killed him... Her heart nearly burst open when she saw the way that he lifted up his head and stared out at them. He looked so afraid and desperate... And there was nothing that they could do to help him.

Penny could practically see the desperation shining in Rudy’s eyes. She could see how every inch of his body looked ready to jump out of the bars and scoop up his friend and cradle him. She could see how Mint wanted to, so much, strike out against Sandra, if he could only fit through the bars sealing them inside.

And as for herself... She just wanted to get out of here. She wanted to take down this cage, grab her friends, and just run. Get out of here as quickly as she could. They were not prepared to fight Sandra yet, she realized. They needed to get away, regroup, and think of something better. Something that would...

“Don’t you dare hurt Snap again!” Rudy shouted, breaking through the silence and interrupting Penny’s thoughts. Penny watched as Rudy momentarily forgot about his own fear of Sandra in favor of trying to defend Snap. “You hear me?! You try to hurt him again and I’ll tear off both of your ears!”

Sandra looked over at him. Upon her red eyes connecting with his, Rudy seemed to freeze like a statue. His facial expression did not change, but his body was starting to show another emotion. Sandra gave a small, wry smile at this. “Oh really now, Rudy? You would do that to me..? Why, I never would have imagined!” She placed her hand to herself. “I would have thought the ‘Great Creator’ would have had more self control than that..”

While Rudy looked undoubtably nervous, he still managed to hold his ground, which impressed both of his friends. “I know that I do not condone violence, but for you, it’d be fucking worth it!”

Sandra widened her eyes for a brief moment. Then she just smiled once more. “I see... Well I suppose if you get your chance, we will see what will happen...” Sandra shrugged her shoulders as she said this. “Only time will tell. Oh and speaking of time...” She turned her head as she stared down at Snap. “I think it’s time that I started showing you all to your cells. Well, at least Snacks here...”

“His name is Snap!” Rudy’s voice sounded as though it was practically bleeding over in rage. “Stop calling him ‘Snacks’, you asshole!”

Sandra gave another shrug of the shoulder. “Eh, details. I can call him whatever the fuck I want.”

Penny gritted her teeth at this, unable to believe just how Sandra was behaving. She was looking down at Snap like he was some kind of food for her to eat. Just a hunk of meat that deserved no special treatment. This was their best friend she was talking about. How fucking dare she treat him like he was lower than dirt...

Snap started to struggle on the ground, trying to get away from Sandra. She applied pressure to his back to secure him in place, her narrowed eyes staring right at him, looking somewhat annoyed. At Snap’s angle, he wasn’t able to turn himself around to strike at her. All he could do was just try to crawl away, which he was entirely unable to do.

Seeing their friend try to crawl caused their guts to wrench up tightly. It was so difficult to watch Snap try so hard to get away, them not being able to do anything about it, Snap looking at them in both pain and fear...

Sandra let out a soft hiss, narrowing her eyes down at Snap. She leaned herself further against him, pressing her foot more firmly on his wriggling form. She put her hands on her hips and glared at Snap as if he was being so unreasonable. The sight alone was enough to make their blood temperatures heat up. But the way that she spoke a few moments later only made them feel worse.

“Of course, you squirming around isn’t going to make this process any easier. So...why don’t I....”

“Wh-Why do you bother doing this, Sandra...?” Snap spoke up. He managed to lift up his head and turn it just enough so he could stare at her. There seemed to be the smallest hint of a smile on his face. “I mean...don’t you think that, if the others find out that we are missing, they will...do something about it...?”

Rudy’s eyes flickered in realization. He offered a sneer himself, this one more broad and noticeable than Snap’s. “The zoners know about what we’re doing. The moment they see that we aren’t returning, they’re going to try to find us! And then you...”

“...will kill every single last one of them...”

Penny’s hushed whisper was enough to make the others look at her in horror. She didn’t want to see their faltering expressions. She hated being the bearer of bad news. But it was true. That’s exactly what would happen.

Sandra smirked at this. “Oh my, you are so accurate, little girl!” Penny flinched at this as she turned her head away. “You really are the smart one, aren’t you?”

Penny did not say anything. But Mint had something that he wanted to say. He took a step forward, closing whatever remained of the gap between him and the bars in front of him. “I do believe that you are underestimating those zoners, Sandra. Do I need to remind you that it was those zoners, and not us, who eventually captured you?” Mint ignored Sandra’s snarling as he pointed a finger at her. “You cannot deny that truth, Sandra. You and I both know that I am right about that.”

Penny stared over at Mint, slowly blinking her eyes. Had the zoners really...? Oh yes, they did. It was kind of hard for her to remember sometimes. She had been injured by Sandra at the time, and gotten so weak so fast. She was not aware of what happened after her throat injury. She had been told, of course, and she remembered feeling proud. A part of her wasn’t really sure how she could have forgotten. Then again, there was a number of things going on. It was impossible for her to keep up.

Still, that did not mean that they were home free. Those zoners might outnumber Sandra and they might have caught her before and they might now know her weakness.... but Sandra was fully aware of all of this. She’d be better prepared. None of them could fully count on being rescued just yet.

And judging from Sandra’s dark smile, she was fully aware of this. “Either way... I left them a little...surprise...”

“Surprise...?” Mint tilted his head, his eyes widening. “Wait a minute.. What surprise?”

“What the fuck did you do..?” Rudy demanded.

Despite their efforts to get Sandra to tell them just what the hell that she was talking about, all she did was just...shrug her shoulders. She then turned her attention back down to where Snap was. Her dark smile spread further. Completely dismissing what they were talking about, she changed her posture so that she stood back parallel to the ground over the blue and white zoner.

“Anyway, as I was saying..” Sandra turned her head around, bending her neck to one side. She gave Snap a downwards glance, her teeth gritted in a dark smile. “I need to make sure that you don’t struggle too much. I won’t be able to get you to where I need you to go if you fight me too much.”

Snap looked up at Sandra in fear. The dragon zoner seemed to press her claws a bit more firmly against him, causing Penny’s heart to twist, along with Rudy’s and Mint’s. Snap stared at Sandra with a silent pleading expression.

Which Sandra ignored completely.

“So...let me help you...relax...!”

Without warning, Sandra suddenly pressed her claws into Snap’s back. There was a loud, sickening crack and Snap’s screams echoed throughout the room, bouncing off the walls. It was difficult to say how long the scream lasted, but for the horrified humans, it seemed to last for an eternity.

That scream... that horrible, terrifying scream... Penny’s whole body froze as she realized just how familiar this scream was. She had heard it before. This was the exact same scream as Snap made all those years ago, back when Mint had broken his back. That, coupled with the sickening crack she had heard before, led her to the same conclusion.

Sandra had rebroken Snap’s back.

No..she didn’t just rebreak it. She made it worse.

She and her friends couldn’t think to say or do anything for several seconds as they watched their friend squirm on the ground. Or at least, try to. His arms were flailing and he was trying to turn his body this way and that. They could see him constantly throw back his head, releasing more screams or shouts of ‘why’, the same question shining in his eyes whenever they weren’t clinched shut tightly.

But his legs... They weren’t...They weren’t moving.. Penny swallowed hard at this, feeling a lump forming in her throat as this news swirled through her mind. She found it difficult to control her breathing. She panted heavily as tears strolled down her face. Her heart was frozen in horror at the realization that Snap’s back was not only broken, but he was paralyzed from the waist down, just like how Rudy was.

Sandra’s claw... It had broken through the prosthetic vertebrate... There was no other explaination. There was nothing else that it could be. She knew that he had the prosthetic...and she broke it. That...That monster....

“Snap!” Rudy shouted after he recovered enough from the initial shock. “No...please... Snap!” He had rushed over upon seeing what happened to his creation and best friend. He reached out with his hand through the bars, as if somehow he could grab onto Snap and pull him out of that situation. “Give him back to us, Sandra! Please...give him back!”

Mint watched for a few moments as Snap squirmed on the ground, his body wracking in agony. For a few seconds, his face held nothing but horror-filled realization. It was as if he was remembering when he himself had broken Snap’s back. It was all flooding back to him, and it was written all over his face. But soon his eyes narrowed and his fists formed tightly, shaking at his sides. He looked as if he was going to speak...but instead he did something else that they did not see.

Mint began to ram himself against the bars. Again and again, he would stroke, hoping to tear it down. Rudy hardly paid attention, his eyes focused only on Snap. Penny managed to look away from Snap, despite how difficult it was, and watched as Mint tried in vain to get them free. She wanted to say something to him, abut how pointless it was to try to break something that none of them were strong enough for. But she could not think of anything to say. So she remained quiet and allowed Mint to continue this action.

Penny managed to turn her gaze down and she watched Snap continued to whimper and cry loudly. His face was stained red with tears as he quivered and tried to cope with the horrific pain that was surely sweeping through him. Penny felt her own eyes water, her vision blurring. Oh Snap... What did he do to deserve this...?

Sandra gave a soft growl as she turned her head towards Mint, watching him as he continued to ram against the bars. “Stop that incineous banging!”

“No! Let our friend go first! Give him back to us!” Mint shouted as he pounded the bars again and again with his fist. “Give him back! You hear me?! Give him back!”

Rudy joined in. His sorrow had given away to rage and his body trembled. “If you don’t give Snap back to us, Sandra...” He paused for a moment, his face scrunching up as if trying to figure out a good threat to throw against someone who could tear him apart on the inside at this very moment. “I will make sure that you...”

“Hold up!” Sandra raised her hand up. “Why don’t I give you a better offer?” She leaned her head forward a little, her narrowing red eyes focusing on Rudy’s hand. “I see you reaching for the magic chalk there, Rudy. I wouldn’t try that if I were you. Someone could hurt themselves.” She reached out with her hand expectantly. “Why don’t you just give me the magic chalk to hold onto, and no one will get hurt..?”

“You already hurt our friend!” Rudy shouted.

“Eh..details...” Sandra waved her hand dismissively. She seemed unaffected by Snap’s whimpering underneath her. “Now...give me the chalk...”

“Like hell we are going to do that!” Mint snarled. “We’re not giving you the magic chalk!”

“Oh isn’t that a shame? I guess you don’t care about your little friend here...”

Snap lifted up his head and stared at her fearfully. “Please..don’t hurt me...”

Rudy and Mint stiffened at Sandra’s comment, their eyes widening in horror. Penny shared the same expression, feeling her heart skip several beats at Sandra’s clear threat. She didn’t need to say anything further for them to understand just what she was getting at. They looked at each other, exchanging facial expressions, none of them at all happy about this. But....they all knew exactly what needed to be done.

Before any of them could make a move, however, Sandra decided to ‘encourage’ them into making the ‘right’ decision by activating her powers on Snap. Not much, it would seem. But it was more than enough to make Snap let out a few pain-filled whimpers and increase his squirming around more.

That was more than enough to make them all give in.

“Please stop that! Don’t hurt him anymore! We’ll give you our magic chalk! Just please...stop hurting him!”

Sandra smirked as she watched the three humans hold out their magic chalk in clear desperation to help their friend out. She looked...almost amused with the idea of them giving up so easily. “I see you really do love him so much... I knew that you would do the right thing...”

“Just take the damn chalk and give us our friend back!” Rudy shouted.

Sandra gave a dark chortle, her shoulders trembling in motion. “Oh..of course...!”

She walked over to the humans, removing her foot from Snap’s back at last. The blue and white superhero zoner gave a loud gasp of relief, but soon delved into more whimpering. Sandra reached over and she snagged the three pieces of magic chalk all in one go. She stared at the three pieces before she looked back at them.

“Thank you for your kind service...”

This comment made the three teenagers bristle in disgust. Rudy and Mint growled at this, while Penny narrowed her eyes. She said, “Okay Sandra...give us back our friend. A deal is a deal.”

“Oh? I don’t remember making any sort of deal...” Sandra casually commented, pressing her cheek against her palm a little. “Though I suppose you could...”

“We gave your our magic chalk! You have to give us our friend back!”

“Have to? I don’t recall that I had to...” Sandra raised her hand up in gesture. “I do believe that we have some sort of miscommunication going on here...” She looked down at Snap. “I still haven’t punished the little fucker for what he did to me...”

Mint’s body quaked at this. “You said that you’d give him back to us if we gave you the magic chalk!”

Sandra just sneered as her smile grew twisted. Her red eyes stared down at Snap’s squirming form before she lifted her gaze up and stared at the three teenagers. “I lied...”

sss

“Dr. Crobat?” Dr. Gelcro called out as he opened up the door. “Are you in here?”

It had been a while since he set foot in this office. He couldn’t really remember the last time that he had been here. It really hadn’t been that long, honestly. A few months. Dr. Crobat had been away for a while on some important business, and he had only returned relatively recently.

The very act of being in his office did bring back all kinds of memories. Not all of them good. Dr. Gelcro still shuddered to remember how he had temporarily turned against his friend over the whole ‘Snap incident’ thing. A part of him wished that he could just go back in time and slap his past self for being so stupid. How could he have so easily accused Snap like that? Even if Dr. Crobat didn’t really blame him for what happened, that didn’t lift his spirits all that much.

But so far, he didn’t see his friend anywhere. He wondered if he had just caught him on a bad day or something. That was possible. He imagined that Dr. Crobat was more than busy, with his hands full, after what happened before. He was so relieved to hear that Dr. Crobat made it out okay, but quickly became concerned when he realized just how close he had come to...

He shook the uncomfortable thought out of his mind. At least Dr. Crobat had survived. Maybe a little injured, but no worse for wear. He was certainly well enough to try to mend whatever patients that he could. He would undoubtably come in here at some point, however. He needn’t worry. All he had to do was wait. He placed himself in the nearby spinning chair and sat down and just...waited.

His mind wandered a little as he thought about what he had done previously. He had been at the police station for a short time not too long ago. He forgot how long he was there. Definitely longer than he had imagined he would be. But he couldn’t really feel all that surprised or upset by it. After all, there had been a good reason why he was called there. He did witness the Beanie Boys’s attack.

He had provided whatever information that he could. From the reactions that he got, it seemed like he wasn’t able to give them exactly what they were hoping for. He did feel a little guilty about that. But...at least he was able to tell them something at least. He hoped that they would be able to use this information to help track down those rotten Beanie Boys and stop them before they managed to do something like this again.

He gritted his teeth, his ears flattening against his skull. How could those Beanie Boys have done such a thing? How could they have attacked those innocent zoners? What the fuck did they ever do to them...?

Oh why was he even bothering to ask himself that? He knew that the Beanie Boys weren’t exactly the most reasonable bunch. In some ways, they were just as bad as their leader, Skrawl. As soon as they were able to, he looked forward to locking them up again.

He looked left and right. Still no sign of Dr. Crobat. Maybe he should go look for him. He might...

Suddenly, without warning, he felt something collide with the back of his head. His eyes bulged as he was thrust forward. His face hit against the desk painfully and he thought he heard a snap, something popping loose. He collapse to the ground, tasting blood in his mouth.

He laid there, quivering violently, pain wracking through his body. He let out a series of pathetic, pained coughs. He couldn’t understand it. Just..what happened...? Who had...? He tried to lift up his head to see, but for some reason, his body just woudl not obey. Instead, he trailed his eyes upward and he caught a glimpse of the shadow standing before him.

A familiar shadow...

“D-Dr. Crobat...?” Dr. Gelcro whispered weakly before he passed out.


	21. A Change

Closer, no hesitation... Give me...all that you have.  
-Humming, Portishead

sss

“W-Wait! No! Please! You can’t do this! Let our friend go! D-Dont do this...please!”

So much pleading. So much begging. That was all music to Sandra’s ears. She felt her ears twitching a little as she listened to the brats’ stubborn attempts in trying to get her to release their friend. She had no intention of letting him go of course, but she did keep quiet and let the humans still beg and plead.

At least it was a little easier standing here now that Snap had gone quiet. She could feel how limp his body was on the ground. She stared down, giving a soft ‘hmph’ sound as she watched his back leaking of blood from where she had punctured his back. She smirked at the sight of this, feeling a sense of pride. She hadn’t really expected her claws to break though so easily in the first try. Perhaps that prosthetic was not as good as they made it out to be. Either that or she was just stronger than even she herself realized.

Lifting her head, she looked back at the humans. She continued standing there, looking slightly nonchalant about the whole thing, as if nothing they said got to her. In actuality, they did get through to her...just not in the way that they would have expected. They were only amusing her. All of this, it was just a fun little game for her. And they were providing all the humor for her. It was quite delightful.

“Come on, Sandra! Just give him back!” Rudy shouted. He pressed himself against the cage’s bars and reached out towards her. He desperately tried to grab at Snap. Of course, his arm was just way too short. “Just give him back! Please!”

Penny joined in. She didn’t attempt to push against the cage; she just stood right in front of it. Her eyes, wide and pleading, with tears moving down from them, stared at her, as if trying to look directly into her heart. “Please..just give him back to us. We don’t have the magic chalk anymore. Why can’t you at least let us have our friend back? Please...”

Mint nodded his head. He was sort of in the middle of Rudy and Penny went it came to attitude. He was certainly calmer than Rudy, but he was more on edge, more ready to fight than Penny looked. He was gripping the bars with both hands and he leaned in, though he had long stopped trying to break it open with his body. “Just hand him over. You’ve done enough damage...”

Sandra threw her head back and gave a dramatic ‘hah’ sound at that. “Oh contrare, my dear creator.” She lowered her head, pressing her chin against the front of her neck. “I haven’t done enough damage.”

The three children instantly erupted in protests at this. Just as she wanted. She stood there for several moments, listening to what they had to say. She rather enjoyed hearing them beg and plead to her, as if their words would somehow make her release their pitiful little friend.

“No! Please! You can’t!”

“Just give him back to us!”

“Don’t hurt him anymore!”

Ah yes, this is exactly what she wanted to hear from them. She wanted them to plead with her, try to get mercy from her...just so she could deny it from them. It was only fair, right? After all, they never showed her mercy before. No one did. No one tried to defend her or try to see things her way. It made her realize just how utterly alone she was in this world. So in a world that doesn’t care about her, why should she give any mercy to anyone else?

Though as much as she would love to just stand around and listen to them shout at her, try to get her to release their stupid friend, she knew that she was only wasting time. If she wanted to get the ball rolling, she would have to leave relatively soon. She had plans for Snap, and she wasn’t about to let herself get distracted for long.

But...standing here for a couple more seconds just to listen to what the children had to say wouldn’t hurt too much. It did fill her with more excitement, and more determination to get this done and over with. She had this all planned for a while. At last she could get her revenge on these miserable brats, especially Snap and Rudy. And she was going to take her sweet time doing it.

Rudy banged himself against the cage multipe times. “Sandra! Please! Just give him back!” His shouts were intermixed with soft crying, tears staining his cheeks. “Y-You can’t do this...!”

“Oh no...?” Sandra sneered as she held up the three pieces of chalk that she took from them. “These three pieces say that I can...” She tossed them up into the air and then caught them with a single swipe of her hand. “Without these babies...” She held them against herself as she leaned forward. “..you three are nothing.”

It was of absolutely no surprise to Sandra when the little promise breaker and his friends began to protest even more verbally. Though their shouts did cause her ears to twitch slightly in pain, she still remained unmoving and just listened to what they had to say. It was all quite so amusing. She would listen to this forever if she could.

However, she was soon interrupted when she heard something flying overhead. The sound of a propeller spinning. She knew exactly what it was.

Tilting her head back, she called out, “Yes, what do you want?”

The Beanie Boy flew himself low enough until he was about level with her head. He made a few motions with one of his hands as he said, “We got their more permanent enclosure ready.” He paused for a moment as he looked over his shoulder. “Shall we take them there?”

Sandra looked from the Beanie Boy and then to the teenagers. At this point, they all had stopped trying to beg. They had clearly given up and she imagined that they were all quite parched. She wondered just how dry their throats were, or if their vocal cords were quite achy from all that yelling. It would be pretty fun to check...but not now.

Sandra waved her hand dismissively. “Yes. Get them out of my sight.” She looked down at Snap’s unconscious form. Her lips curled upwards into a dark smile. “I’d like some...alone time with my dear ‘friend’ here...”

sss

There were times when Sandra wished that this castle wasn’t so large. She wasn’t really sure how long she had been walking like this. She would get to her destination soon enough. But it would have been a shorter trip of Skrawl had thought to build this place smaller. Or did he build it? She wasn’t sure. Either way, this was a bit of a longer walk than she had wanted it to be.

She couldn’t really complain, though. Everything was going her way so far. She had all of those brats trapped and they were rendered powerless. They were all at her full mercy. And she had Snap with her. All alone with him... Oh the possibilities were endless... She couldn’t help but give him a few dark sneers as she continued dow the hallway, heading for her bedroom.

It did seem strange, bringing him there. But it ultimately seemed perfect. She would have the most privacy with him here. She might bring Rudy in here later as well. She would keep these two locked up with her. And she would be free to do whatever she wanted with them. She had all sorts of plans for them, and she couldn’t wait to get the plans executed. And Snap would be the first one that she was going to have fun with.

Already, she could anticipate the taste of his flesh. She remembered how he had tasted in the past. So sweet and delicious... She had to wonder if he would taste the same, or if he was going to have a new flavor. The very thought excited her and it was so tempted for her to take a nip out of his unconscious form just to get another taste of him. But she held back. Not yet...there would come a time for that. First, she had to get him...situated...

She continued moving down the hallway as she held Snap’s body in her arms. She was cradling him like he was some kind of little child. Which in a sense, he was, though the rules were bent when it came to ChalkZone. She was amazed at how light he felt. Then again, she had grown bigger since the last time she saw him. A byproduct of a creator’s intent, she was certain. She smiled down at Snap’s still ‘sleeping’ form. The fact that she had grown larger and stronger since the last time they tangoed was going to make this a heck of a lot more fun.

Ah there it was. She could finally see her bedroom coming up. She took a moment to look around to make sure no one was there. Not only was it empty, but she could hear nothing. Not even the screams and shouts from the teenagers, whom she had ordered be locked up in the same room as Skrawl. Nothing like a reunion to get them going, right?

Though she’d love to hear, this was a moment where she was glad for the solitude. She wanted to focus entirely on Snap. And she wanted Snap to not be aware of where his friends are. At least, not now. She wanted to play with him for a while. She won’t kill him, but she will give him a taste of what to expect. She would watch him squirm about, try to get away from her, and she was going to enjoy every second of it.

As soon as she got into the bedroom, she used her tail to knock it shut. It automatically locked, a feature she had the Beanie Boys put in themselves. She looked down at the door knob for a moment to make sure that it was indeed locked, and then she turned her attention to the rest of the room as she walked in deeper. The room was...a little fancy. More so than she actually would have liked. But it would serve its purpose quite well.

A very large bed was set up against the wall, positioned relatively in the middle. The headrest was up against the wall while the foot seemed to want to stretch out towards the other side, but could only made it about three quarters of the way. Then there was a large dresser which was located near where the door was. It was tall and long with multiple drawers filled with various items. Not really just clothes, but other things she felt she would need at some point. Though some of the stuff, she had no idea if Skrawl put them there or if it just came with the dresser. She just ignored those.

The thing that caught her attention the most was the large kennel that she had the Beanie Boys haul in here. It was quite large and sturdy. Surrounded by a strong, beige plastic-like substance with a barred cage door in the front. This was where Snap, and later on Rudy, were going to stay. They would be her personal little play things.

Sandra moved along the room, feeling the nice velvet carpet against her feet. Such a nice change from the concrete floor that made up most of the castle. Though the purple coloration did not seem to go well with the rest of the castle, at least in her eyes, she still preferred doing her important business with Rudy and Snap in here. So much more comfortable.

Sandra set Snap against her bed and watched him carefully, her eyes narrowing into slits. There was so much she could do to him right now... But first, she’d have to wait until he woke up. It wouldn’t be much fun if he was unconscious the whole tiem, now would it?

Of course, it would take a while. She had given him a rather harsh blow. It was a lot of fun breaking that stupid prosthetic and paralyzing him, but in doing so, she had only delayed the ‘real fun’. Hmm...of course, she could always...

Gripping onto his shoulder, she forced him onto his back. She could see the small opening in his leotard that she had torn open. She ran her hand along the large puncture wound, blood caked around it. It almost amazed her at how much damage her claw had done. She could even see pieces of the prosthetic vertebrate sticking out. Well, she might as well get started now.

The first thing she did was she removed the shattered pieces. It had taken a while, slowing down the process. But if she was going to do this, she couldn’t have any of those pieces still inside of his body. After a while, she managed to get all the pices, leaving a descent sized pile of broken, sharp-edged pieces on the ground. Now with that out of the way, she turned her attention to the open, circular wound. She placed her hand against it carefully and she concentrated hard.

With a glow of her triangular symbol, the skin and flesh began to morph and twist around a little. She could see the flesh coming in together, almost swirling like a recently flushed toilet or something. Some pieces of flesh began to harden, forming new bone which surrounded the exposed, rapidly healing spinal cord. Just as that new vertebrate came into place, the muscle and skin and newly healed blood vessels formed over it.

Then, in a matter of moments, it was as if nothing had ever happened. Even the scar that Snap had there before was completely gone.

Of course, who knows how long this was going to last? She smirked darkly. She hadn’t done this for his benefit. She had only done this to help him wake up faster. He might not have much pain waking up...but he will soon be pleading and crying for mercy. She would see to that.

And as luck would have it, she could see Snap already responding to his healed back. His legs, previously paralyzed, began to twitch as his head moved about. He let out a series of soft groans, twisting himself a little on the soft ground. He lifted his head up and he opened up his eyes.

It took only a couple of seconds for him to realize just who he was looking at.

“S-Sandra?!” Snap immediately shouted as he jolted himself up. He made a small flinch as he hit his leg against the bed due to how swift he had moved himself. “H-How...?! Where?!”

Sandra chortled as she listened to Snap’s confused cries. It would take him a little while before everything would settle in his mind and he would fully realize just what was going on. She decided to remain quiet, giving Snap all the time that he needed in order to fully remember. This shouldn’t take too long. She leaned back so she could watch the fireworks.

Snap continued to babble for a while. A little longer than Sandra would have thought. A minute or two. Well that didn’t seem too long at a glance. But for something like this, it almost felt like an eternity had gone by. She would have thought that Snap would have figured it out much sooner. Oh well. He would learn eventually. He was a smart zoner, wasn’t he? Surely, in a few moments, he would have it all figured out. His memory won’t take that long to return. She hadn’t done anything to mess that up.

And sure enough, it did. Snap’s incoherent, fear-filled babbling had turned into more coherent sentences. Comments regarding what happened, realizing the events that took place before, it all was flooding back to the superhero zoner. He looked left and right, his breathing becoming both shaky and steady, a combination that was difficult to imagine, but Snap seemed to pull it off rather well.

Then he looked back at her, standing up unsteadily on his legs, pressing his back against the bed. He stared at her long and hard, his eyes remaining wide. He looked so unsure, so uncertain of what to do. It seemed that it finally hit him, after all that memory flashing in his head, that he was completely and utterly alone with the one zoner who hated him the most.

Oh gawd how she hated him... How she wanted to tear him apart... He had hurt her so badly, and she wanted to return the favor. She wanted to get the ball rolling. She wanted to force him to the ground and begin to eat him alive, let him feel the start of the pain of what’s about to come. But she wanted to take it a little slower than that.

“Wh-Where are my friends?!” Snap shouted at her, forming fists with his hands. “What have you done to them?!”

Sandra leaned herself to one side. “I don’t know why you’re so upset about that, Snacks.” Snap hissed at that name, further amusing Sandra. “It’s not like they are being harmed.” Upon seeing Snap’s expression at that, Sandra motioned her hand to one side. “No, really. They’re fine. I just had them locked up. I do not plan on doing anything to them...” She brought her hand back, raisng up a feather finger. “...yet.”

“Don’t you fucking dare hurt them...” Snap hissed as he managed to take a shaky step towards him. Sandra had to admit, she was a little impressed by how brave Snap was acting. Perhaps the threat of his friends was making him more willing to talk back to her. “If you do...”

Sandra rolled her eyes. “Not like you’re in any posititon to stop me. Besides, I wouldn’t really worry about them right now.” She grinned broadly as she stared directly at Snap. “I would be more worried about what is going to happen to you...”

Sandra moved herself closer to Snap. The zoner, despite acting brave, started to move himself back, pressing himself against the bed as far as he could go. He gritted his teeth as he glared up at Sandra, looking as if he would attack at any moment. And yet he never did. Not even when Sandra reached out and touched his face, he still remained pressed where he was, letting out a few low growls and nothing more. Sandra just chuckled as she spent a few moments stroking his cheek.

“It is still a shame that it had to be this way, Snacks. If only you had been more reasonable...”

“Reasonable?!” Snap shouted at her. He seemed to completely ignore the ‘Snacks’ comment this time. “How am I the one being unreasonable?! You’re the one who has been hurting people! You’re the one who keeps holding onto a belief that doesn’t make any gawd damn sense!”

Sandra immediately stiffened at this. A wave of bitter emotion started to rise up inside of her. She stopped stroking Snap’s cheek and just held it there. Her grip was slightly tight. She bore her red eyes through his. “...not make any sense, you say...?”

“Y-Yeah that’s right!” Snap’s voice had a slight tremble in it. He knew that he was going to land himself in hot water. But it would seem that he would rather be resistant than fall under her control completely. Though she had expected this. “You keep telling everyone that they should eat their loved ones! Can’t you see just how sick and wrong that is?! Why the fuck should I eat a loved one?!”

“Because it’s the ultimate way of showing that you care for them..” Sandra hissed under her breath. She was getting a little tired of repeating herself. What would it take to get this through their thick skulls?

“Care for them?!” Snap spluttered, tripping over his own tongue. “That’s not the way you show you care for someone! You do it by being nice to them! Get them presents, hang out with them, help them when they’re in trouble, have a good time with them! That’s how you show that you care about someone! Not freaking killing and eating them, you sicko!”

Sandra rolled her eyes. Of course Snap would say something so ridiculously naive. She did not deny that those were good things to do with a loved one. So she knew that, on some level, Snap spoke the truth.

But he was completely wrong in thinking that those were the only ways of showing that you cared about someone. He was wrong to think that eating a loved one was somehow a bad thing. How could it be? It was the ultimate form of bonding. To fuse oneself with another. It took a lot of will power, the right kind of mind, in order to do something like this. Which was why she considered it the ultimate honor.

But of course, idiots like Snap could never understand. She didn’t know why she bothered even trying to explain.

“You will never understand, I know. Your primitive little mind could never understand.” Sandra leaned herself back, giving Snap a somewhat blank expression. A little more of a serious look, speaking to him like she was a mother and he was her child. “I wouldn’t try hurting my mind trying to understand. It’s just beyond your comprehension. It is a shame that only I was created with the ability to understand. But...” She let out a sigh as she turned her head down, raising one hand up. “..I suppose that’s just how life is.”

Snap’s body shook with emotion. With a burst of energy, he pushed back against her. Sandra let out a grunt and she looked at him with widened eyes, not having expected that. “Oh shut up! Haven’t you ever thought that maybe it is you who is wrong?! That you’re the one with the messed up mind?! That you are one who needs to be ‘reeducated’?!”

Sandra lowered her ears slowly, letting out a soft growl. “Snap...stop it...” She warned him, feeling her blood start to boil.

Snap ignored her warning and continued on his rant. “You are the one who needs a wake up call! It is you who have caused this world too much grief! You have such a twisted, warped view of everything!” He took in a few pants, his lips pulled back a little to showcase a little bit of his teeth. “..especially when it comes to promises...”

That was it. That was the straw that broke the camel’s back. Sandra felt a rush of emotion go through her, adrenaline causing her heart to thump louder. Unable to stop herself, she launched herself towards Snap. She slammed her body into his, and she pressed him firmly against the bed. Snap let out a help of pain as he was pinned at such an awkward angle. Surely he was feeling an ache in his newly healed back at this point.

“You ignorant little slime ball!” Sandra snarled at him. Her face was contorted with a primal rage, her pupils shrinking into dots. She looked into Snap’s terrified eyes as she continued to shout at him, showing him her sharp teeth. “Don’t you fucking dare talk about promises like that! Don’t you dare try to diminish their importance! You filthy, disgusting zoner! If you dare try to stain the sanctity of the promise again, I will rip out your tongue! Do you hear me?!”

Snap immediately nodded his head quickly. “Y-Yes... I-I understand! Please..don’t hurt me!”

Sandra narrowed her eyes into slits as she watched Snap’s struggling form. She allowed him to jerk himself about a little, trying so hard to free himself. His eyes were filled with terror, a few tears forming in them. He was clearly remembering what happened the last time that he had gotten on her bad side.

Which gave her an idea. Her mouth broadening into a twisted smile, she stared down at Snap’s stomach. She could feel a little drool start to dribble down her jaws, and she licked her lips slowly. Snap saw this and he let out a scream. He struggled against the ground more frantically, kicking and hitting against her and the ground, trying to wriggle his way free. But she was too strong for him and he couldn’t stop her from lowering her head towards his stomach, her jaws widening.

Sandra didn’t hesitate and she sank her teeth into his stomach. Snap immediately let out a scream of pain. She enjoyed the melody of Snap’s screaming as she sliced into his stomach flesh. She did not bite as deeply as before. She only bit in enough to take out a nice portion of meat from him, tearing it from his body. She used a couple of fingers to remove the cloth from her tongue before she began to consume the meat.

Below her, Snap thrashed and trembled and whimpered in pain. He had his body curved inward, his hands pressed up against his stomach. His eyes were clinched shut and she could see tears moving down from them at a more rapid pace. Blood seeped onto the ground from where she had bitten him.

She couldn’t help but savor his flavor, just like she had before. He still tasted just as sweet. She swallowed the piece of flesh and licked her lips once more, getting the remaining bits of blood off from her mouth. She looked down at Snap and gave him a broad sneer. Now he has finally had a taste of just what she wanted from him.

“P-Please...” Snap managed to whimper. “D-Don’t do that again... Please.. I-I’m sorry for what I said...”

“Tsch...you’re not sorry.” Sandra glared at him. “You’re only saying that to save your own hide. Well sorry, my little Snacks...” She moved closer to him, arching her body around in a sort of circle. She looked down at Snap, one of her feet placed lightly against his body. “You do not deserve any mercy. You are going to have the honor of being my food source for the rest of your life...” Her voice grew dark and cold at that statement.

“Wh-What?! No! Please don’t!” Snap wailed, the pain overtaking his mind. “P-P-Please...I...” He broke down into sobbing, his whole body trembling harder.

Sandra just rolled her eyes at this. “It’s not like you have a choice...”

Snap coughed up a little bit of blood, staining the ground. “P-Please... I-It doesn’t have to b-be this way...”

“I tried to give you a chance, Snap. I gave you so many chances...” Sandra put her muzzle close to Snap’s ear, speaking harshly into it. “You kept on rejecting me. You turned against me. You hurt me deeply, Snap. And now...” She let loose a quick, dark chuckle. “You must pay the price for that.”

“No..please...”

Sandra ignored him as she forced him onto his back. The swift movement and his body stretching this way caused him to scream in agony. Sandra looked down intently at her handiwork. She looked at the blood that seeped out of the wound. She found herself drooling once more. Unable to help herself, she lowered herself down and she began to lap at the blood leaking out of his stomach. Such good, delicious blood... So sweet... She held Snap’s whimpering, crying form on the ground as she continued to lick up his blood.

Then, unable to control herself, Sandra began to eat him alive, like she had to him before. Her teeth sank into his flesh and she ripped up large chunks flesh and swallowing them whole. Snap let out choked sobs and cries as he continued to struggle underneath her, his body giving pained twitches. Sandra managed to keep his thrashing body still as she continued eating his stomach, tearing in deeper and deeper, until...

Sandra grabbed onto his intestines. She got a good grip on them with her teeth and then, like a predator would its prey, she yanked upwards. She tugged out a long piece of the digestive organ, its purple surface gleaming with red and some kind of wetness. She chomped down on it, cutting off a piece that she slurped up like it was a noodle. She then shoved her head back inside, Snap’s body stiffening and twitching in response. She pulled back her head and she managed to nearly completely disembowel Snap, the ground soon covered in a steaming pile of purple innards.

Sandra took a step back and watched as Snap struggled and thrashed on the ground. He sobbed heavily, tears staing his cheeks, each breath sounding choked. His body quivered violently, his legs twitching out, his arms flailing. He twisted and turned his body from side to side as he struggled to get away from the pain. He soon managed to look over at her, his horrified eyes asking a simple question of ‘why?’.

Sandra chortled at this. She allowed Snap to twitch and squirm on the ground for a few moments before she reversed what she did. Raising up her hand, her symbol glowing, she put in a lot of concentration to heal up Snap’s injuries. The purple organs disappeared back inside his body, the torn off piece being replaced in a matter of moments. The flesh rapidly regenerated and the hole in his skin quickly healed. Now the only thing that remained of the injury was that torn cloth on his leotard.

Despite being fully healed, however, Snap still laid on the ground, holding onto his stomach as if he were still in pain. Sandra guessed that he was experiencing some phantom pain. Or he was remembering just how it felt to have himself being partially eaten alive for the second time in his life. She grinned devilishly at this. This was so much fun...

Sandra moved in closer towards Snap, her eyes staring at him intently. The trembling, crying zoner didn’t seem to notice her right away. She lifted up her foot and she slammed it against his side. Snap let out a scream as he was tossed along the ground. He laid on his back, his hands still holding onto his stomach, right where she had bitten him earlier.

Sandra grabbed onto his arm with one hand, holding him down. She lowered herself towards him, nearly straddling him. She smiled down at his sobbing form. She reached down and she stroked his face gently.

“I do hope that this little session has prepared you, Snap. This is going to be your life from now on. I hope you get used to the pain, dear. Becaus you will be feeling a lot of it.”

“N-No..p-p-please...”

“Too late.” Sandra narrowed her eyes. “If you had been more reasonable to me before, I wouldn’t have had to do this.” She spread a dark smile across her face. “But think of it this way. At least I am giving you a purpose.” She rubbed her thumb along his face’s skin. “You should be proud. You will be providing me with nourishment for a long time... Oh what a generous ‘friend’ you are...”

Sandra watched as Snap’s body squirmed about on the ground. He continued to release a series of ‘no’ and ‘please’ at her. He didn’t seem to try to protest against her. The only thing that he could do was just cry and beg her to leave him alone. Watching this whole thing caused her chest to swell up in pride. This was going better than she had ever hoped for.

But then she suddenly froze. As she watched Snap’s crying form on the ground, something else began to develop in her mind. A different sensation that she honestly did not see coming. The unexpected situation caused her head to spin a little, and she had to shake her head once or twice in order to keep herself from toppling over.

Snap had taken apparent notice of this change in attitude. It seemed like he finally realized that he was no longer in pain and he laid still. He stared up at her cautiously, breathing in shakingly. The two of them locked eyes with each other, not daring to look away from the other.

All the while, this strange, new feeling swelled inside of the blue dragon. This whole thing was...unprecendented. She never thought she would feel like this. Then again, she had been obsessing about Snap for a while, hasn’t she? A little too much... But even with this realization, she still had a little trouble coming to grips with this newfound sensation that was starting to creep along the back of her mind.

But she couldn’t deny it. There was something about Snap now that was...triggering something else inside of her. A new type of desire. A new way to control him. She could feel the corners of her mouth lifting up. Hey...this might not be such a bad idea after all...

“What are you doing...?” Snap managed to whisper.

Sandra stared down at him, her eyes flicking with insanity. “You know... I think I am going to...shift my plans a little. I just thought of something better..”

“B-Better...?” Snap gulped. He cringed away from her. “Wh-What do you m-mean...?”

Sandra just smirked at him. “Instead of telling you... Why don’t I just show you...?”

Sandra lowered her face down towards Snap. She could feel his breath, and she was certain that he could feel hers. She licked her lips slowly in anticipation. Then, without warning, she jerked her head forward, closing the gap between them. She proceeded to give him something that she never thought she would give him.

A kiss.


	22. Desperate Attempts

It’s all in my hands. What can I do? Don’t let it fall apart!  
-A Shot In The Dark, Within Temptation

sss

“No! Let us out of here!” Mint pounded against the bars again and again. “I’m telling you for the last time! Release us!”

Despite how much this hurt his head, Mint just could not bring himself to stop. There was a small part of him that felt that...if he kept this up, maybe the Beanie Boys would listen and let him and his friends go. It was a stubborn, stupid belief, sure, but...someone had to keep trying, right?

Rudy and Penny were sitting in the back, leaning against each other. A part of him was irritated. He had hoped that they would be here with him, trying to find a way out, not cowering back there. But..no, he couldn’t say that about them. It wasn’t like they had given up. They just...didn’t know what to do right now.

And honestly, neither did he. The only reason he kept on yelling was..he had no idea what else he could do. He wanted to get them all out of here. But he just..had no idea. And without the magic chalk...

“Oh be quiet and sit down!” One of the Beanie Boys snapped, glaring at him.

“Yeah! You aren’t going to leave here any time soon! So you might as well get comfortable!” Another Beanie Boy growled at him.

“Or maybe the ‘Enemy Creator’ is just too stupid to realize what those words mean!”

Mint hissed at this. Despite the somewhat weak nature of that insult, it still struck a chord with him. Of course the Beanie Boys would still be heartless enough to bring that up. It was just like them.... It was bad enough that, even now, a few zoners still insisted on calling him that. He certainly didn’t need past wounds being reopened by the very things that he had used to call his allies.

He once more looked back at Rudy and Penny. He took in a deep breath and he sighed. Perhaps they had the right idea after all. It seemed like it really was just a complete waste of his breath and time in trying to figure a way out of here. No matter what he did or said, it wasn’t going to change a damn thing. All he was going to do was just..make himself even more irritated. The Beanie Boys were quite good at that. It would be quite hard to formulate a plan if he was getting too worked up..

..and of course the Beanie Boys knew this rather well. Why else would they be talking like this? Oh yes, they were rather certain that they could use his emotions against him, keep him from figuring a way out. He couldn’t let them win.

So rather than continue pounding against the bars, he finally got himself to stop. He ignored the stinging pain in his fist as he looked at the ground, letting out low, soft growls. He clenched his teeth tightly, each breath feeling like it was taking more and more effort. Then, with a quick shudder, he started to feel himself relax a little. With that exasperated sigh, he turned and he made his way towards his friends.

“Looks like he finally gave up!”

“I’m glad. I was tired of hearing his stupid voice!”

Mint gritted his teeth at those comments, but he chose to ignore them. He slowly made his way over to his friends and he sat down next to them. He felt some sense in comfort in being so close to them. True, he was nowhere near getting an idea of a way out of here. But...at least he could take some comfort in knowing that he wasn’t alone. And who knows? Maybe Rudy and Penny could figure something out.

So far though...he wasn’t really sure what any of them could do. This situation did start looking rather...bleak. None of them had any magic chalk on them. They had been forced to give it all to Sandra...

The very thought of that caused Mint to grit his teeth. Oh how could he have been so stupid...? He should have known what Sandra was up to. He should have known that it was all just a trick. He should have known that she never intended on giving Snap back... But instead, he fell for it, hook, line, and sinker... and now Snap had been seperated from them. Stolen, locked away with her. And none of them had any clue what was being done to him.

That was honestly the worst part. Not knowing what was happening to their friend. He wished there was a way that they could find out. Good or bad, he and the others would feel better just..knowing what was going on. They wanted to know what was being done to Snap. They wanted to know if he was okay, if he was not okay, or what. Not knowing was going to drive them all insane.

But he would try his best to hang in there. He didn’t want to worry his friends further. Rudy and Penny were worried enough as it is. He didn’t need to add onto it.

He watched them as they were in deep thought. He wondered what they could be thinking of. They had been silent for a while after they were locked up. He imagined that they might be trying to figure a way out of here. They weren’t the types to just give up. But the expressions that they were giving... It was honestly difficult to tell if this was truly the case or not.

“...so...do you guys have any idea what we’re going to do?” Mint cautiously asked. He was getting a little tired of the silence and he wanted a better idea of how Rudy and Penny were feeling. “Like...anything...?”

Rudy shrugged his shoulders. “Not right now. I mean... I’m not sure if there is much that we could do...” Rudy flinched at his own words, as if he was shocked with himself for saying them. “I’m sure that we can figure something out...eventually. I just...don’t know what we can do.”

Penny nodded her head in agreement. “It will take some time before we can figure something out.”

“But we don’t have a lot of time! Snap could be...!” Mint protested.

Penny raised up her hand to silence him. “We are quite aware, Mint. Rudy and I are equally as desperate as you to save Snap. But...we need to be careful with this.” Penny narrowed her eyes as she gazed into the ground. “If we go in too swiftly into this.. We could end up making things so much worse.” She let out a sigh before looking back up at Mint. “We need to plan this perfectly. You and I both know how Sandra can be...”

“Yeah...I know.” Mint couldn’t deny those words. It really would be best to wait and make sure that everything was solid before making a move. They just had to be a little quick about it.

Rudy gave a soft murmur. “At least we won’t have to worry about Skrawl...”

At this, Mint felt a mixture of emotion go through him. He found himself slowly turning his head towards Skrawl, who was situated in a cage not far from them. The jellybean hadn’t really spoken a word to them since they arrived; he just sat there, his arms folded, looking rather grumpy.

This was the only amount of comfort that they had in this situation. Skrawl really wasn’t paired up with Sandra after all. Maybe he had been, but it was clear that he was her prisoner now. For what, Mint wasn’t sure, and Rudy and Penny couldn’t figure it out either. Sandra wanted him for something; why else even bother keeping him alive? And the Beanie Boys were being controlled by her, using Skrawl as leverage.

Mint had mixed feelings about this whole thing. On the one hand, Skrawl might make a useful temporary ally. He knew this place better than Sandra, he would imagine. So many he could tell them something that they don’t know.

But on the other hand...they were still enemies. He didn’t think that Skrawl would be all that interested in helping them out. He certainly didn’t look interested. And there was the fact that he himself was..still rather terrified of him. He did not bring it up often, but he still felt a tinge of fear whenever thinking of that jellybean. After all, he was the reason that...

Mint found himself looking down at his prosthetic leg. Even to this day, he could still remember how Skrawl had flung that sword into his leg, how it clanged against the ground, how his leg had been chopped off... He could feel a dull pain spreading throughout his leg at this, and he wanted to clutch his limb to himself.

No doubt Skrawl would take advantage of his fear. That seemed like something that the jellybean would do. Go out of his way to frighten him and be a total asshole about the whole thing. Skrawl just needed to say the right thing and he would have Mint cringing. Even though the teen tried not to let Skrawl get to him, it was just....he could not stop the flashbacks from moving through his head. And it didn’t help that he still had nightmares about that horrible scenario...

But, despite his fear, it might be worth a short. After all, he had a feeling that Skrawl hated Sandra as much as they did. Perhaps it would only be best if they at least trie dto talk to him. What was the worst that could happen? It wasn’t like the jellybean could get to them from where he was.

But first, he neded to speak to his friends about the idea. It seemed outrageous and he had no idea if they would like it or not. But...it was worth a try at least.

“Hey guys..?” Mint spoke up. “I...I think I have an idea..”

Rudy and Penny immediately lifted their heads and looked at him.

“Oh? What is your idea, Mint?” Rudy asked.

Mint paused for a moment. He still wasn’t sure how to approach this. He turned his head and he stared over at Skrawl for a few moments, and then he looked back at them, licking his lips nervously. “W-Well...I...”

Rudy had seen what he did and his eyes immediately narrowed. “No...No, you are not thinking that, are you..?”

“I mean...”

“Mint, you know he’d never help us!”

“I know, but I think that...”

“He’s the one who chopped off your leg! Why would you want his help?!”

Mint bit his lip. He should have known that he and Rudy were going to get into an argument over this. He should have known that Rudy would not like the idea of working with Skrawl. Maybe in the past, but after the shit that Skrawl had pulled, like cutting off his leg, Rudy had been less..inclined in wanting to work with the jellybean.

Which he understood full and well. He couldn’t really blame Rudy for not liking the idea. He wouldn’t be surprised if Penny as well had some reservations against the idea. He didn’t want to force them to try the idea. They both had good reasons for hating it...just as he himself had reasons for not wanting to do it himself.

But he hoped that they would at least listen to the idea. After all, they did need a way out of here. And having Skrawl on their side temporarily could help tip the scale a little bit. Skrawl wouldn’t be dumb enough to resist help if it meant getting back at the person who had wronged him...right?

“And further more...” Rudy started to say before Penny put her hand on his shoulder. “Penny...?”

“Let him explain.” Penny said gently.

“But...Penny...” Rudy started to say. “That plan... we can’t...”

“I know it sounds rather desperate. But Rudy...we are in a desperate situation. And if Mint thinks that this idea could work... We should let him try it.” Penny explained to him. Her eyes were furrowed softly. “I don’t like it anymore than you do. Trust me on that. But right now, it’s more important that we figure a plan out and get out of here. No time to let our emotions get the better of us.”

Rudy opened his mouth to speak. But he soon closed it. It was clear that he couldn’t really think of anything to say. He just turned his head away, lowering it and giving a sigh. “Oh all right..” He lifted his head up and he stared over at Mint. “What did you have in mind, Mint?”

Mint paused for a moment, and then he started to speak. “I know it won’t be easy. But if we can convince Skrawl to help us, then I think that he can tell us more about this place. He knews this place better than Sandra I would imagine... So maybe he can tell us things like...secret passageways, or anything else that we might not know about.” He raised his hadn up in gesture. “I know that it would take some convincing, but I think we’d be better off with Skrawl as a temporary ally...don’t you think?”

Rudy and Penny glanced at each other. He could see the nervousness in their eyes. He knew what they were thinking. The idea of Skrawl being an ally, even if there were some benefits, was not something to take lightly. Skrawl was still a dangerous foe and he was hardly trusthworthy.

“Oh and of course, we would take precautions. I’m not stupid.” Mint raised his hands up. “I never intended that we jump into this headfirst without thinking. Of course we would have a plan in case Skrawl were to betray us.” He lowered his hands and he leaned in towards his friends. “But...I truly do think that we may stand a better chance if we at least...try.”

“Well...I’m still not liking it.. But..” Rudy rubbed the back of his head nervously. “It..does seem like our only option right now.” He looked over at Penny. “What do you think?”

“I don’t like it, honestly. But...you’re right. It might be our only shot.” Penny stared over at Skrawl. “After all... the enemy of my enemy is my friend, right?”

Rudy gave a bitter chuckle at that. “If you can call it that...”

Penny decided to ignore that as she addressed Mint, “Why don’t you try talking with Skrawl, Mint?” Mint blinked his eyes in surprise. “It was your idea, after all. And you have actually worked with him.” She flinched as she said that. “M-Maybe you could think of a way to sway him...?”

“Me? I-I don’t know...” Mint stammered. “I’m not sure that I can...”

Rudy cut him off. “Go on, Mint. At least...try.”

But Mint still remained unsure. Was he really the right person for this job? After all, Skrawl was still Rudy’s reaction. Shouldn’t Rudy be the one to try to talk Skrawl into temporarily helping them?

But...Penny was right. He did work with Skrawl for a time. That wasn’t a time that he liked to remember. But...he might have the negotiating skills required to get Skrawl to listen. He did have to deal with him on a regular basis once. He might be better suited to this than Rudy or Penny, despite knowing Skrawl the shortest amount of time.

Then again...would Skrawl really want to talk to his former ally? Would he really want to speak to the person who betrayed him?

Well...there was only one way to find out.

Without much more hesitation, swalling hard, trying to work up the courage, Skrawl made his way over to where the front of the cage was, over towards the bars that separated them from the room aroun them. Mint gripped onto the bars and leaned in. He paused for a moment, licking his lips once more, trying to figure out the words to say. He looked over at his friends, who offered him supportive, encouraging smiles.

Then he turned his head to Skrawl and, after pausing for a moment, he said, “Hey, Skrawl! I’d like a word with you!”

At this, Skrawl slowly turned his head towards him. Mint tried to ignore the menacing glare that the jellybean had given, the way his teeth were bared in a snarl. “What do you want...?”

Mint swallowed nervously for a moment, feeling his heart pound in his chest. He fought against his twisting gut feelings and he managed to speak. “...I have a proposal for you...”

sss

Snap’s mind instantly became alive with several buzzing thoughts. He couldn’t comprehend what was going on. He couldn’t get his mind to settle down. There was just... was this some kind of nightmare or something?

But he wasn’t waking up. Even as he shut his eyes tighter, hoping that he would wake up at any moment..just, nothing was happening. He was still here, in this present time. He could still feel the unwelcome warmth, himself pushed up to something he never wanted to be. This was real.... and he was horrified.

Sandra’s lips were upon his. As soon as his mind clicked, as soon as he realized that this truly was the case, the small blue and white zoner began to struggle against her, kicking his legs out. He struggled to pull himself back, placing his hands and trying to push her away. Nothing he did worked and he found himself remaining locked in the kiss.

He couldn’t help but let out muffled whimpers and cries at this. None of this made any sense. His head ached as he tried to search for an answer. How in the world could Sandra go from trying to eat him...to kissing him like this? It just had no sense of logic to it whatsoever. And he found himself feeling even more terrified than he already was. He had to try to get out of here, somehow. He just...

Then he felt something that made him nearly gag.

Sandra’s tongue in his mouth.

Almost instantly, his eyes bulged wide open. He felt an almost immediate urge to throw up. He could feel his stomach lurching in his stomach, and he could feel the bile start to rise up. He fought against the feeling, eventually managing to get it down to more manageable levels. But the sense of nausea was still there.

All the while, his mind continue to swirl and ache from trying to understand just...what the fuck was happening. He felt a whole wave of emotions as Sandra kept holding onto him like this, keeping her lips pressed against his. His heart raced against his chest. The mere fact that she was this close was enough to make him want to scream in horror. But now she was doing this and.... how was he supposed to take this? He kept asking himself over and over the same question: Just what was Sandra doing?

In all the times that they had spent together, even back when he had foolishly considered her a friend, he never thought she’d be the one to do something like this. And it made even less sense knowing what kind of person she truly was and knowing that she hated him. He knew that she hated his guts. So..why was she kissing him...?

Sandra’s tongue was moving around inside. It was o disgusting, almost like he had swallowed some kind of worm or something. Snap shut his eyes tightly and he tried to ignore this feeling as he struggled to pull his head back. He tried striking at Sandra, jerking his head from one side to the other. Whatever he could to get himself free.

Yet Sandra’s grip remained tight on him. Sandra pulled him closer, keeping him locked even more deeply against the unwanted kiss. She showed no signs of letting up any time soon. Snap soon realized that there was only one way that he could get out of this.

Forming a fist with his hand, Snap twisted himself around so he could get a good angle. Then he pulled back his fist and, mustering as much strength and courage as he could, he struck out against Sandra. His fist collided with the side of her head, knocking it askew. Sandra let out screech at this, her mouth parting from his, her grip on him loosening.

Snap took this chance to try to get away. With Sandra momentarily distracted, he pushed back against her, managing to knock her clean off of him. He did not bother watching her collide with the ground; he just immediately turned himself around and he began to run towards the door. He moved as quickly as he could, knowing that he could just get the door open somehow and get out, he might be able to..

But he was never able to get that far. Before he even got half way towards the door, all of a sudden, there was a sharp pain in his leg. His eyes widened and he immediately began to trip over himself. He let out a yelp of pain as he fell into the ground, his leg bent slighlty awkwardly. He pulled his leg close, feeling as though a thousand saws had crawled up inside. But almost as soon as the pain started, it ended...

Snap heard low chuckling behind him. He turned his head and he saw that Sandra was already back on her feet. She smirked down at him, her lips spread in a...strange smile to say the least. She had her hands folded behind her back as she moved closer to him, her tail swaying from side to side. Snap’s whole body tensed up, preparing to defend himself if he needed to.

Though Sandra never tried to attack a second time. She merely walked over towards him, keeping a slow, deliberate gait, as though trying to drive him nuts. Snap gritted his teeth fearfully as Sandra approached him quickly, soon standing over him. Her smile gained a tint of amusement. Though she rubbed her cheek where he had struck her, she did not seem too angry with him.

“Nice shot... I must admit, I am impressed.” Sandra’s voice was surprisingly calm. “I never thought someone of your...stature would be able to knock me down with a single blow. Actually, I never thought anyone as scared of me as you are would have been able to strike me at all.” She lowered her hand and she tilted her head slightly to one side. “Congratulations... Though do please try to keep that at a minimum.”

Snap growled softly. There were so many things that he wanted to say to her right now. But he kept his mouth shut. He didn’t trust himself to be able to say a damn thing without triggering a potential attack from Sandra. She might be in a somewhat of a ‘peaceful mood’ right now. But who knows how long that will last?

In her current state, Sandra was not the predictable sort.

“I hope you do not think that you’ll be leaving so soon.” Sandra looked over towards the door for a moment. Then she turned her head so that she could look at Snap with one eye. “You have only just gotten here. Why don’t you stay and just...have some fun? Loosen up for a change...”

“I want to be with my friends!” Snap shouted at her, his fists shaking at his side. “Just take me back to them!”

Sandra held her chin in her hand. “So you don’t like being here with me, do you?” She shook her head slowly, feigning a sad expression. “Well isn’t that just a shame...” She took a step forward, lowering her body a little. She reached out and she gripped onto Snap’s lower jaw. “Am I not good enough for you...?”

Snap shuddered at the tone that she used there. He grabbed onto her hand and yanked it away. He started to crawl back away from her keeping his teeth bared. “J-Just stay away from me!”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Sandra’s red eyes gave a twinkle. “You see, I have no intent on losing my hold over you, dear Snap..” She moved in even closer, making Snap let out a yelp as he tried to get away from her. “You will be staying with me...for a long time...”

Snap struggled to keep away from her. He tried to move as quickly as he could. But no matter how hard he tried he just could not stay away from her for long. Sandra moved too quickly, even when she was down on all fours. Her body, low to the ground, managed to catch up to him quickly and he soon found himself pinned against the ground. Sandra’s face became close to his.

“Whether you like it or not...”

Snap whimpered and he turned his head to the side. He half expected her to try biting him again. Instead, the only thing that he got was her tongue moving along his neck and up his cheek. The sensation caused him to whine and shudder. He struggled to swallow the lump in his throat. Despite the surprisingly gentle sensation, he did not feel that this was much better than her simply biting him.

“J-Just let me be with my friends, Sandra... Please...” Snap whispered softly. He couldn’t bring himself to try striking her again, despite the temptation. “Please... That’s all I want right now. I just want to be back with them. Rudy, Penny, Mint... Please...”

He opened up his eyes and looked up at her pleadingly. But there was no sign of sympathy from her. Just a narrowed gaze and a look that was...mimicking disappointment yet was not. It was so difficult to pinpoint just what kind of face that this was. But in the end, it was still making him feel uneasy, especially with how she was leaning in closer.

“You are staying with me. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. You better get used to it. Because you are never leaving this room...unless I will it.” Sandra narrowed her eyes further. “If you try asking to leave again, I will personally see to it that your little friends will have a... ‘great time’...” Her mouth twisted into a dark smile as she turned her head to one direction. “Do you understand me?”

Feeling a cold shudder rush through his body, Snap whimpered, “P-Please..y-you can’t..”

“I can and I will. If you try leaving or if you try asking to leave one more time, Snap...I will.” Sandra’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “Don’t think I’m joking on that. I hold all the cards. I am not going to let you go. I made that mistake before. I will not do it again. Am I clear?”

A wave of confusing, intermixed emotion swirled through Snap’s body. He found it impossible to tear his eyes away from Sandra. They drew him in, keeping him locked on the ground, utterly frozen. He wanted to get away somehow, yet he could not even bring himself to move. And the emotions that her glaring was elicitating did nothing to help his situation.

He could feel himself breathing in and out quickly, struggling to figure out just what the heck he was going to do. What move should he make? Could he really just give in like this? But what of his friends? He didn’t want to see them getting hurt. Oh..what was he going to do...?

His brain was bombarded with these confusing emotions that just wouldn’t let him go. He could feel a burning sensation in his rounded hands as he tried to figure out just what choice he should make. He wanted to do...something, anything, to get away from here. Yet he knew that if he did try, Sandra would go through with what she said. She might not have said ‘I promise’ there, but he could tell that she meant every word. She would indeed take action if she felt it necessary.

And his friends... No, he could not permit them to get hurt. In the end, their safety was more important than his own. If him staying here with Sandra would keep them safe, then...he didn’t have much of a choice, now did he?

The idea disgusted him. The idea terrified him. There was no amount of his core that wanted to be here. His chest twisted and his mind swirled, the burning emotions of fear and disgust intermingling together in a large cloud inside his skull, making him feel worse. This all served to make it even harder for him to make the decision. Yet the feeling of what could happen to his friends resonated more strongly with him.

So, licking his lips nervously, feeling his heart skip a few beats, Snap forced himself to lower his head in submission, his eyes closing softly. He did not want to see the smirk on Sandra’s face when he spoke. “...okay.. you..you win... I’ll stay..”

“Excellent. I knew you’d make the right decision, my little Snacks.” Snap shuddered at that comment, and at the caressing hand that touched his face. “I promise that you will not regret this.”

Snap opened his eyes and looked up at her. He wasn’t really sure why she bothered saying that. Not like there was anything she could do that would make him love it here. Only her not hurting his friends made this decision even slightly worthwhile.

He didn’t bother saying that to her, though. He couldn’t bring himself to do that. Not now; it was too risky. The only thing that he could do was just lay there and turn his head to the side. He didn’t want to look at her anymore. He didn’t want to see her ugly mug. The only thing he wanted to do was just shut his eyes and pretend that this wasn’t happening. He wanted to mentally take himself away, and hope that, soon, he would get out of this mess.

Sandra seemed to take note of this. He could hear her chuckle and mumble something under her breath. He couldn’t really tell what she said. Not that it really mattered. For before he could even start to think of what she meant, he started to feel a sharp pain in his head. His whole body started to stiffen up and he struggled to take in a breath.

“Shh...it’s okay, Snap. You are just going to...take a little nap is all.” Cooed Sandra. “Just close your eyes and go to sleep....”

Snap struggled to keep himself awake. He opened his mouth and let out a few strained gasps as he tried to handle the pain. He jerked himself from side to side. The agony in his head only grew stronger. His whole body trembled and he made a few jerky motions as he tried to push her back from him.

But it was useless. No matter how hard he pushed, she just shoved him back. Her powers overtook him and he felt something feel as though it was snapping inside of him. With a sharp stiffening of his body, Snap collapsed completely to the ground. His vision rapidly blurred and darkened. He shut his eyes and he became unaware of the world around him.

sss

Bell’s mind was constantly racing. He wasn’t entirely sure how he should feel about the situation. He was unable to stop acing back and forth, his arms folded behind his back. He kept his teeth gritted, in a constant state of just wanting to growl, even bite something.

What was he going to do? He asked himself this over and over again. It wasn’t something that he could stop asking himself. There was so much at stake here. He needed to keep himself on his toes. He needed a better understanding of just what the heck was going on here. A part of him wished that...he had only been imagining this.

But..he knew that he wasn’t. No matter how hard he struggled against himself, he couldn’t really forget what was happening. He could not dismiss what he had been told. Those two, he had a lot of trust in. They had proven themselves time and again. They wouldn’t lie to him. Not about this. Not about something that was so incredibly important to them. They knew better than that.

But to be fair, this was one of those few times where he just...wished that this was indeed all a lie. He didn’t want to think that this was happening. This just...would nearly ruin everything. There was still time, of course. But if they did not hurry...

He felt glad that no one was around to see this. Him pacing back and forth like this, the last thing he needed was anyone staring at him, wondering just what the heck was wrong with him. He didn’t want, nor did he care to, have anyone commenting on this or asking questions. No, now was not the time for that. He needed to keep himself focused on the task at hand.

At the same time, he needed to keep his emotions in check. He couldn’t let himself get too worked up over this. He was certain that everything would still work out. But they would not if he let his emotions get in the way too much. He needed to keep himself calm and steady, and try to think of a solution to this. If he concentrated hard enough, maybe he would figure something out and everything would be just fine.

Still...this whole situation was just..unprecedented. He had never thought that the Beanie Boys would actually attack the hospital. That hadn’t been... He shook his head. It was partially his fault. He should have been more specific. And maybe...he should have been a little more truthful...

Well, there was nothing that he could do about that right now, now was there? He could only move forward and hope that he could figure something out to correct this little oversight.

The rest of the police department were already out there. He didn’t need to worry about them finding the Beanie Boys too soon. But the fact that they were out there at all... It really was worrying. What if they found...that location? He didn’t want to begin to imagine what would happen if word got out. The only reason that he was even allowed to know was because he had promised not to tell. And then this happened and...

The only solution that he had before was just to send in a few of his own men. Act as derivatives. Lead them in a different direction. But he knew it would not be good enough. Suspicions would rise too fast, and the whole thing would be blown. Everything that he had worked hard for lately would all be for naught. He couldn’t allow it all to go to waste. It just...wouldn’t be fair...

But what was he going to do now? Not only did the police start heading of in that direction, but he also had to worry about Rudy and his friends as well. They had overheard what had been said. That was what he had gotten out of those two he spoke to before. It was this that he had wished had been just a sick joke or something. Out of all the people he didn’t want knowing about this, those blasted four were the ones that he struggled to keep everything from.

He knew exactly how they were going to react to all of this. He knew that they would not let up until they got all the answers, until he told them what they wanted to know. They would not be reasonable. They could not be negotiated with. They would stand against what he wanted. And if that is the case...

..then he supposed he had no choice.

The bull zoner turned his attention towards his desk. His real desk anyway. He did not consider the front desk where he met Rudy and the others to be the place wehre he did his real work. That was more of a...well, not really a front per say. But more just...a face? After all, someone has to sit there and speak to people who come in.

He was glad that someone else took over for now. He often switched with this other guy. Amazing person, really understanding... but he could hardly think of him right now. He wanted to figure out a solution to this problem first. And he would find the answer with his own desk. Not that there was anything in there that would help. It was more that...he felt like he could think better sitting down here, where he did his real thinking and his real work.

He felt himself start to relax as soon as he sat down. Yes, this felt so much better. He leaned himself back, feeling the cusion of the spinning chair, feeling it squeak slightly under his weight. He placed his hands on the thick metal table before him, the coldness spreading throughout his hoof-like hands. And then he just...started to think.

Rudy, Penny, Mint, and Snap. Four individuals. Four problems. Four things that needed to be taken care of soon. Four obstacles that stood in his way.

But of course, going about this was going to be rather tough. There was no easy solution to this. He already knew what kind of influence that this kid had over ChalkZone. Well all of them. If he did something too suddenly, he might end up making things worse. He could not simply just... He just had to tread lightly. One false move and...

He already had some influence over people. There were some that looked up to him. Or at the very least, there were others that respected him. They saw him as some kind of voice of reason, even if he did have his...moments. He could not risk losing that out of desperation to keep Rudy and the others out of the way. So he would need to find some other way to deal with that...cripple.

And soon, an idea formed in his head. There was a little something that he had been working on. He had been wondering how well it was going. If it were indeed a success, then perhaps he could use this to his advantage. It would help him pave the way into bringing out a change to this world. The introduction of an already familiar person whom he believed would make a better leader for everyone, even if he was sometimes...moody.

Besides, it wasn’t like Rudy was going to be around forever, right? The teen was going to grow up, get old, and die. Regardless of his crippled status, this part always remained the same. The same was true for Penny and Mint as well. They would all perish in age. And Snap... Well not to rain on his parade, but he did not see Snap as the leader type. No, he was way too...impulsive.

But this guy he was looking into making leader, he felt he was just...better. He still had his moments, he would not lie. But he did still get things done. He did not waste time on nonsense. He was the kind of person they all needed. Of course, not many would agree, and if he spread this word out too much, he knew many would turn against him.

But things would indeed go down this path. He would ensure that it did. Not just because of what he was promised, but because he had already truly believed in this vision. Once this whole Sandra situation was settled down, he would then begin to proceed with the next phase. Everything would fall into place.

Indeed, he would see to it that this plan came into fruition.


	23. Attempted Escape

And if you wanna get out of here...wanna get out of here, save yourself! But you'll never get anywhere...never get anywhere, not without my help!  
-I’m Alive, Shinedown

sss

Skrawl raised an eyebrow. “...You’re kidding me, right?”

Mint shook his head. “No, I’m not. I’m serious! I do think that we can...”

Skrawl let out a soft growl. “Now why in the world would I want to do that?” He raised his hand up in gesture. “I don’t owe you brats anything! Besides, if you’re so smart and clever, why don’t you figure a way out on your own?!”

“Oh come on, you know us better than that!” Mint called out, picking up on the tone that Skrawl was using. “I can tell you’re just trying to cover yourself to protect your pride. But I alsok now that you do know what we are capable of!”

The jellybean grumbled at this, but he didn’t say anything.

Mint took this as a disgruntled profession and continued, “I know that you hate us, Skrawl. There’s no doubt about it.” He placed his hands to himself. “And we aren’t exactly so sure about you.” He then motioned his hands outward. “But...we both can agree that Sandra is a jerk face and she needs to pay for what she did.”

Skrawl rolled his eyes at this. “Hmph. Why should I care if she attacked the city or not?”

Mint struggled not to let his blood boil at this comment. He looked behind him and he could see that Rudy and Penny were both on their feet, glaring daggers at Skrawl. The only reason they didn’t say anything is that Mint himself was going to try to handle this. He didn’t expect them to stay silent for long, however. Even if they didn’t say anything to Skrawl about that comment now, they would surely bring it up later on.

Mint turned his attention back to Skrawl. So far, this discussion hadn’t turned out fully what he wanted. Though he had expected things to go this way, considering that this was Skrawl that he was trying to speak with.

At least the Beanie Boys had left. He didn’t know where they went. Probably to Sandra to figure out what their next move was. It was difficult to tell if they really did still care for Skrawl, or if they were under Sandra’s control. Heck, he doubted that even Skrawl knew the answer to that. But oh well; at least they were gone and they could quickly discuss this.

Now if only he could get Skrawl to see at least some reason... It wasn’t impossible to get Skrawl to cooperate. After all, Rudy had apparently done so in the past, when Skrawl built that large brain thing. So if Rudy could do it way back then, perhaps he himself could do it now. He just needed to figure out exactly what to say to convince him.

But what could he say?

Not wanting to give up so easily, Mint pressed on, “I know you don’t care much for ChalkZone City. Or at least, that’s what you say.” Mint tilted his head slightly. “But...don’t you care about yourself? Or your Beanie Boys?”

At this, the jellybean’s body seemed to straighten up a little. His eyes narrowed. “What are you insinuating...?”

Mint immediately raised his hands up, sensing that he might have nearly gotten onto Skrawl’s bad side. “I’m just saying... I know that you are not happy with what Sandra did to you...what she’s doing to the Beanie Boys..” The boy narrowed his eyes softly. “I would have thought that you’d want to get back at her, at the very least.”

“Yeah, Skrawl. Don’t you want to take a shot at her?” Rudy spoke, unable to keep quiet for much longer. The young teenager headed towards the bars, limping slightly from his metal legs.

Skrawl raised his eyebrow at this. “You, Rudy Tabootie, are suggesting that I...” There was a stunned sense to his voice.

Rudy shook his head. “I’m not condoning this. I just know how you work, Skrawl. I know that you would want to get back at Sandra for what she did. You would want revenge against her. That’s just how you function.”

Skrawl growled as he turned his head to the side. “I still don’t know why I should help you...” Skrawl sounded almost disgusted as he spoke. “You always figured out a way to stop me in the past. Nothing seems to get by you.” He turned his head and gave the teenagers a somewhat upwards glance. “Need I remind you that you have gotten in my way time and time again. So why should I help you?”

“Because we aren’t the ones who did this to you.” Penny said as she made her way over. “You know this quite well, don’t you, Skrawl?” Penny took position beside Rudy. “We did not trap you. Sandra did.” She motioned to herself. “And she trapped us, too. Haven’t you heard of the saying ‘the enemy of my enemy is my friend’...?”

Skrawl turned his head swiftly to one side, letting out a low hiss. “You’re not my friends!”

“We know that. But why can’t you listen to reason for once?” Mint narrowed his eyes at the jellybean. “I know full well that you hate the position that you were put in. Stripped of your power and your Beanie Boys. Being made into a fool by someone who is rather aimless in her goals.” He motioned to Skrawl. “You at least have the goal of becoming leader. Sandra?” He shrugged his shoulders. “The only thing she wants is revenge. Don’t you see her as rather..foolish?”

Skrawl paused for a moment. His eyes remained narrowed, but there almost seemed to be a sense of understanding in those eyes. “...I see...” He turned his head to the side. “I suppose you brats have a point on that.”

Mint gave a small smile at this. He could tell that Skrawl admitting that was quite painful for him. But at least he understood that they were indeed correct. Even if Skrawl did not have the best intentions, even he would scoff at the idea of someone like Sandra causing destruction with no real goal in mind. Wasted effort, wasted potential.

“So why don’t you agree to help us?” Mint approached the matter once more, this time trying his best to sound a little more cautious. He didn’t want to try too hard, or else Skrawl would probably disagree just out of spite. But if he just kept on appealing to him... “Think about it. You’ll be able to get chance to prove Sandra wrong. She probably thinks you’re stupid and useless. Are you going to take that laying down?”

Skrawl narrowed his eyes at this. It looked as if he was trying to ponder an answer. He didn’t give one right away, as though he was lost in his own thoughts. Probably trying to decide which was more important to him. In the end, Mint and his friends already knew what the answer would be. None of them were surprised when the jellybean raised his head up and started to shake it slowly.

“Then why don’t you help us?” Rudy raised his hand up in gesture. “It’s only going to be for this time. And we promise we won’t tell anyone about what happened. It’ll be our little secret.”

Penny gave a small, though uncertain, smile to Skrawl. “What do you say? You help us. We help you. Do we have a deal, Skrawl?”

“Hmm...I’m still not sure..” Skrawl turned his head, peering towards the ground. “This is...not what I had expected...”

“Oh come on, Skrawl. We worked together before.” Rudy spoke up. “Remember?”

Skrawl curled his lip up into a snarl. “I wish I didn’t remember that.”

“But you do, don’t you?” Rudy narrowed his eyes slightly. “If you could do it back then...” He tilted his head slightly. “...there’s no reason why you can’t do it now. Just one more time. Please, by reasonable, Skrawl.”

Mint nodded his head in agreement. “And think about it, Skrawl.” Mint leaned in towards the bars even more. He shuddered at the cold metal that was pressed up against his face. “You will be able to show all of ChalkZone City why you are the top dog.”

Mint did feel a little sick in saying that. It was not easy giving someone like Skrawl a compliment like that, at least verbally. In some ways, it almost reminded him of how things were when he used to work for Skrawl. And he hated to be reminded of that.

But buttering up to Skrawl like this, working at his ego, seemed to be the best way to try convince Skrawl to help them. After all, Skrawl loved to feel important. He loved to feel like he was truly better than others. Giving him a chance to outshine someone else seemed to be one of his weak points, especially if that someone had underestimated him. Skrawl did not like being taken lightly, and it was clear that he did not take kindly to Sandra doing the same thing to him.

It might still take some convincing. It might take a little while before Skrawl would eventually agree to help them. But Mint was certain that he and his friends could pull this off. And once they had Skrawl at their side, they...

“How would this work?”

Mint immediately paused his thoughts as he stared at Skrawl, blinking his eyes. “What do you mean?”

The large green jellybean hissed softly at this. “Well, you got a plan right? If I agree to help you, don’t you have a way out of here?” At the teenager’s silence, the jellybean let out a hiss. “Ain’t that disappointing...”

Mint licked his lips nervously, realizing that Skrawl was right. They hadn’t thought that far ahead yet. They still didn’t know how they were going to get out of here. He looked over and he stared at Rudy and Penny. The only thing they could do was stare back at him, wearing expressions filled with worry and confusion.

Mint looked back at Skrawl, taking in a slow, deep breath. Even if they could get Skrawl on their side momentarily, that meant shit if they couldn’t think of how they were going to get out of here. They would need to think of something fast, before Sandra had time to come...play with them.

sss

Sandra carefully cradled Snap’s small, unconscious form in her arms. She smiled down at him, watching as he slept. He looked almost peaceful. Only the slight contortions in his face revealed something was amiss.

She had to admit, Snap did look really cute like this. It was a thought that even shocked her when she thought of it. But it was indeed true. There was no way that she could deny how cute he looked unconscious in her arms like this. The sight of him like this, so helpless...she couldn’t help but feel...something growing inside of her.

She tried her best to shrug it off so that she could continue making her way towards the kennel. Her pace had been greatly slowed when she kept on looking at Snap like he was some kind of rare item that she found. She couldn’t allow herself to get so distracted. She knew what she had to do and it had to be done before he woke up.

So onward towards the kennel she went. Snap would not be unconscious forever. The thing that she pulled on him would only keep him out for at most, a few minutes. If she didn’t have him secured in his kennel before then, he would surely try to fight her. And at the moment, she was not interested in fighting with him. Not now.

A part of her was still...quite perplexed with what she had done earlier. She could tell Snap was shocked. And quite honestly, so was she. She had not seen these set of emotions and feelings to come, especially not like this. She never once thought that she’d ever feel....this way about him.

She did feel a sense of disgust rise up inside of her. Even she had to admit that this was...quite sick and twisted. Though probably not for the same reason that Snap or anyone else might think. This was Snap she was talking about. Someone who did not respect promises. Someone who was friends with a promise breaker. Someone who did not understand the honor of eating a friend. For her to start feeling this way was just...unprecedented.

But at the same time, she did realize the sort of power that came from this. She was quite aware that this could be turned into a good thing. She knew how she could control Rudy. But she did not fully figure out how she would control Snap. She had initially thought of doing to him what she’d do to Rudy. But...this seemed so much more exciting.

But regardless, she knew she would figure something out eventually. If not this, then something else. Either way, Snap belonged to her now. And he was never going to leave her again. He was her personal little prisoner.

And there was nothing that he could do about it.

A few moments later, Sandra ended up in the kennel. She had to lower herself just slightly so she could get in. But it was large enough for Snap. Keeping him secured in her arms, she moved in deeper. Smells dangled all around her; despite the fact that she had cleaned up Fido’s old kennel, it still smelled somewhat badly. It probably wouldn’t bother Snap too much. He did not have a strong sense of smell like she did. And even if he did...oh well.

There wasn’t much inside of this kennel. Why would there be? It was for a dog before. What more could a dog need other than a food and water bowl? And she provided Snap with both. The dog bowls were placed in the back, and she had even put down fresh newspaper in case he needed to...relieve himself. Not that he really needed any decency if she was the only one who was going to see him. And she did provide for him a bed. A dog-style bed, but still one nonetheless.

This was all Snap really needed. The rest of the kennel was empty. There was still enough room for him to walk around if he needed to. And the kennel was still relatively well ventilated. It might take him a little while to get used to living in there. But she imagined that he realized he had no choice and he’d surrender.

Not without a fight of course. She did not think he’d go down that easily. But seperated from his friends, and with her having her powers back, there was very little that Snap could do in this situation. She was in full control this time...

Slowly, gently, Sandra laid Snap’s still body on the thick blanket. She set him down on his back, and she watched as his head lolled to one side. She pulled up the end of the blanket to cover up his legs and she leaned her head back. She watched the small superhero zoner below her as he took in slow, slightly unsteady breaths. It was almost....mesmerizing.

Sandra lowered her hand down towards Snap’s face. She placed her hand against his cheek, gently stroking it from side to side, feeling how soft his skin was. She repeated this action a few times before moving her hand up and stroking the top of his head. Her thumb pressed against his forehead and she held it there, briefly remembering when she had Rudy in a similar position. That same feeling of power rushed back at her, causing her to smirk twistedly.

Sandra then slowly traveled her hand down his face, her feather fingers trailing over his cheek once more. Then she moved her hand down his neck. She massaged the side of his neck and shoulder for a bit before moving down his arm. Up and down along his arm, she moved her hand, enjoying the feeling of control that this was giving her.

She soon pulled her head back and she smiled down at Snap’s sleeping form. She let out a small chuckle, feeling a sense of excitement about how things were developing now. She leaned herself towards Snap once more and she found herself locking lips with him again. The kiss was short and brief and she quickly pulled back, but not fast enough to avoid feeling the wave of confusing emotions rise up inside of her again.

She couldn’t deny that she was feeling slightly embarrassed over the whole thing. She thought she had understood herself and she thought that she knew how things were going to go. For something like this to happen, despite all the precautions... A part of her would never fully understand what to make of that. A part of her would always feel a little...strange...

But in the end, she knew that this was still going to help her out. These new actions... If they confused her, they would surely confuse Snap. And if she kept Snap confused, she might be able to control him better. Which of course could lead to a lot more fun and...

She had a feeling that she was going to love this.

“I hope you enjoy your little nap, my friend.” Sandra cooed softly as she stared down at Snap, her eyes half way closed as her smile spread a little while. “After you wake up, you and I are going to have a lot of fun together. I promise you that...”

Sandra would have said more but in that moment, she heard a loud bang ring out through the castle. Her body stiffened up and she swung her head around towards the closed door, her red eyes widened. Just what the heck was going on...?

Slowly, she narrowed her eyes. She had a good idea of what was happening. She looked down at Snap once more. A part of her felt disappointed that she couldn’t begin her fun with him. But all good things come to those who wait, right? And besides, making sure that her other ‘guests’ didn’t get out was equally as important.

Sandra gave one more look at Snap before she swiftly turned herself around and headed out of the kennel door. She slammed it shut, making sure that the simple yet affective lock was in place. She tested it out momentarily, making sure it was good and tight. Then she turned and began to head out of the room.

If it was what she thought it was...

..then those brats were going to have a lot to pay for.

sss

It was absolutely amazing what one could do when provided with the right motivation. Sometimes, one could really surprise themselves if they took the time and effort into doing something rather than just sit around moping. Especially when something important to them is on the line.

Such as Skrawl’s pride.

The jellybean hadn’t really realized that he had this much strength in him. He hadn’t bothered trying to break out. A part of him wasn’t even sure why he didn’t try. He didn’t think that he could explain it to himself. Had Sandra done something to him? Or had he given up on his own? He couldn’t really remember.

No, he wouldn’t have given up. That just wasn’t his style. It had to do with Sandra. She did...something to him to make him more cooperative. He just couldn’t remember exactly what that was. He struggled to remember but it felt as though something was blocking his mind from really recalling. He could feel something was there, always out of his grasp.

This was occupied with a series of pains in his stomach. They had started relatively recently, and all of a sudden with no known cause. He suspected they had something to do with Sandra. He couldn’t think for the life of him just what that could have been. But no doubt, she was involved in this somehow.

And now here he stood. Confused and uncertain, doing something that he thought he’d never have to do again.

Working with Rudy.

The thought immediately brought disgust into his mind. He hated having to work for that little brat. It only reminded him of how much of a failure of a creation that he truly was. He struggled to get on top as a means of making something out of himself. He didn’t want to be just a ‘scribble on the chalkboard’. He wanted to be someone, and Rudy had taken that away from him. So to work for him.... it left a bad taste in his mouth.

But in this case, he was a bit more willing to let things slide. His anger right now mostly belonged to Sandra. Regardless of what he thought of Rudy and their past encounters, the boy had never treated him as badly as Sandra did in the short time that he’s known her. She disrespected him, locked him up, treated him like an idiot. And she is also tormenting his Beanie Boys emotionally. The only ones that he could consider as close to ‘friends’ as possible. He did not take too kindly to that.

So as far as he was concerned, this was a necessary evil. Working with the boy who initially started his misery to take care of a momentarily more dangerous threat. He could worry about taking out Rudy later. Right now, he wanted to focus on Sandra.

And oh boy, did he get good start. Situated in front of him was what remained of two of the metal bars, torn open by his own hands. He could remember it very clearly. Just...a rush of emotion, a feeling of adrenaline pumping through his arms...and then that.

It was just a darn shame that it wasn’t Sandra’s neck. Oh if he could only get his claws on that dragon, he would make her sorry for all the crap that she had put him and his Beanie Boys through. He would make her sorry that she ever crossed paths with him. They could have been excellent partners. They could have been working to stop Rudy and his friends. And instead, she decided on this path. She was going to regret that decision. He would see to that.

“Wow....that was...incredible.” Breathed Rudy. There was something on his voice that took the jellybean a while to recognize. A part of him couldn’t believe it. But it was awe, wonder. “You truly are something.”

Skrawl was not entirely sure how to take that last comment. But he did offer a smirk to the boy. “I told you that I could do it!”

“Yes, you did tell us that.” Mint nodded his head slowly. Then his eyes narrowed. “So...are you going to help us out or not?”

“Yeah, we’re working together here, remember?” There was a tone to Penny’s voice. A bit more strained, and the way that she was looking at him... Skrawl could tell that she was being quite serious.

“Oh yes, of course!” Skrawl placed a hand to himself. “I remember!”

Mint folded his arms. “So...are you going to let us out or not?”

There was a part of Skrawl that just wanted to say ‘screw you’ and leave. That part was quite strong. After all, he got himself out. He didn’t need the humans. He had no reason to worry about Snap. The only thing that mattered right now were his Beanie Boys and avenging them as well as his pride. He could honestly care less what happened to Snap or these humans.

Yet at the same time, he knew the benefits that would come from working with them. Could he really give all of that up just because he didn’t like them? It didn’t seem like the wisest choice. He could theoretically leave them behind and let them suffer at Sandra’s claws and enjoy it....or he could get their help in stopping Sandra and have a much better shot and making her pay for what she did than he would have if he decided to go this alone.

Both paths were tempting. Both would lead to something that he could get into. Watching these teenagers suffer...or getting even with Sandra. Both were goals that he could get behind.

But he knew which goal was the one that appeased him the most.

So, with a decision finally in mind, the large jellybean took action.

Without saying a word or making an attempt to respond to the teenagers’ words, he focused on getting himself through the cage. It was one thing to remove the bars with sheer strength and determination. But it was a whole other level to get himself out of here. The opening was not that wide and he did not think that he could rip out another bar. So he was going to have to make do with what he had.

He thought about turning himself to the side, but he realized he was kind of a bit fellow. Perhaps he should try moving forward? But he was wide there as well. He stood there for several moments, scratching his chin and tapping his foot, trying to figure out which way was the best to go.

“What are you waiting for?” Mint called out. “Just try to get through!”

“I’m thinking!” Skrawl snapped back. “Don’t interrupt me!”

Rudy let out a sigh. “Come on, Skrawl! We don’t have much time! I’m sure that Sandra heard those bars fall down and she could be on her way here right now! There isn’t time! You have to just try squeezing yourself through right now!”

“What if I get stuck?! That wouldn’t really be much use to me, now would it?” Skrawl narrowed his mismatched eyes at the two boys. They couldn’t really be that dense, now could they?

“Just try walking forward! Like you were about to!”

Skrawl turned and stared directly at Penny. He narrowed his eyes further and he was about to respond...but then he stopped. Not so much because of what she or the others said. But because he realized that if he kept standing here, he might miss his one shot at getting even with Sandra. If she came over and she locked him in and did that...whatever it was again...he might not get another chance like this again.

So rather than just stand there any longer, rather than give in to the tempation of arguing with these humans further, Skrawl just...gave in. Penny was the smart one and he had already thought of going through the opening going forward rather than sideways anyway. So he gave it a shot.

He pressed himself against the space. There was barely enough room for him to manuever, even with the bars gone. He pushed himself into it further and he could feel the cold metal sliding along his body. But he could still feel himself getting stuck. He could feel the bars pressing against him, trying to hold him in place. He squirmed from side to side, twisting his body around, trying to get himself through. He let out a series of grunts and groans from his attempts.

Thinking that he was going to get stuck, he found himself grabbing into the nearest bars to him. Gritting his teeth, he struggled to push himself out. He applied as much pressure as he could, tightening the muscles in his arms. He pushed as hard as he could, releasing all that energy into this single push. He could feel himself start to get a bit unstuck, he could feel himself get looser, until...

Skrawl let out a grunt when he suddenly tripped forward, nearly falling into his face. He stumbled over his feet, flapping his arms as he tried to keep himself balanced. It was useless in the end, however, and he just fell into the ground, smashing his face against the hard surface. He laid there for several seconds, giving off a soft groan, before he pushed himself onto one hand, shaking his head.

He didn’t bother laying there for long. Before he had time to fully recover from that, Skrawl was back on his feet once more. He wobbled slightly, and then he made his way over towards the cage that Rudy, Penny, and Mint were locked up behind.

As he went over there, he did again momentarily have that thought of just leaving them. He was free. Why should he bother to help them at all? But then he’d remind himself that the end goal this way would be so much more satisfying.

Once he reached the cage, he gripped onto two bars tightly. He took in a deep breath and then he began to pull as hard as he could. He wasn’t really sure if he could pull this off a second time, but still, he tried. He struggled and he pulled and he yanked, whatever he could to try to dislodge these bars. But they were screwed in so well, so tightly, even more so than what it was for him. He didn’t know if he could even pull this off, and there was a part of him that was just saying ‘forget it’ and move on.

Skrawl did not give up, however. His interest in getting revenge against Sandra was strong enough that he kept on pushing himself past his limitations. He gritted his teeth tightly and growled, struggling to pull on these iron bars as hard as he could. He took a step back and yanked on the bars, his hands wrapped tightly around them. He could do this. He knew that he could. He just had to keep trying. He had to keep going. He could not give up. He just...

Then, without warning, something snapped. Then there was a scrape. This both happened at about the same time. Then what felt like a nanosecond later, he was flying backwards. Skrawl let out a grunt as his back hit against the ground. He became aware of something hard rolling across the ground.

Lifting his head, he realized that it was the two bars. Which meant that...

His thoughts were correct, not that he was all that surprised. There was now a gaping hole in the cage where the two children had been trapped in. More than big enough to allow them to get out. Skrawl watched as the three humans stepped out of the cage. Now they could...

...wait, just what were they going to do again? Skrawl realized that they hadn’t actually figured out a plan yet of just what they were going to do once they were outside of the cage. They had gotten out, but..now what? They had to take action as soon as they could. Sandra was going to get in here at any moment and if she caught them ouside of their cages...

Oh who cares what she thought? A part of Skrawl wanted her to find them out of their cages. He wanted to see the look in her eyes. He wanted to rub it in her face that she was not able to keep him locked up forever. He wanted to prove to her that he was not the pushover that she thought he was.

A part of him wished that she would show up. Oh the words that he would have for her. Oh all the things that he could just...

“Where do you think you’re going?!”

Skrawl immediately froze at that statement. In an instant, his eagerness was rapidly replaced with horror. No, she couldn’t have come back that quickly, right? She couldn’t have gotten here this fast, could she? Surely he had just been hearing things. She just couldn’t be...

But seeing the look in the teenagers’ eyes told him that this wasn’t the case. He could see the way that they were looking out. They weren’t even looking at him and he could see just how afraid these three looked. Rudy, Penny, and Mint were obviously looking at someone, and since it wasn’t him, there was only one other person that it could have been.

And when he looked over, his fears had been proven correct. Despite the fact that he had wanted to confront Sandra and tell her off, it was a whole other thing for her to actually be here, for him to actually go through with it. It was easy for him to think of dealing with Sandra and wanting revenge. And though he still wanted it, seeing her in person brought forth those fears that he struggled to keep hidden. He knew exactly what she was capable of and he was fully aware that, as things were right now, he did not stand much of a chance against her.

Why did he listen to Rudy and his bratty friends again...?

“Well, well, well...” Sandra hissed through her clenched teeth, the sharp tips gleaming. She folded her arms against her chest, her narrowed red eyes looking like they were drilling right through their souls. “Am I boring you all? Is that why you’re trying to leave? Well, if I’ve been a bad host, why didn’t you just tell me? I could have...arranged something better...”

It took Skrawl several seconds before he could snap himself out of his scared trance. A part of him couldn’t even believe he was afraid at all. Fear was for cowards, and he wasn’t a coward. Fear was not going to get him anywhere here. He shook his head once, trying to set aside his feelings of terror the best that he could, and then he narrowed his eyes into slits as he glared at the sky blue dragon zoner before him.

Right now, Sandra was not even looking at him. She was keeping her focus on Rudy, Penny, and Mint. Though Skrawl could understand why as they were the ones who could use the magic chalk, but in this case...there was none. If anything, he was a bigger threat to her, both literally and figuratively speaking, and yet she still dismissed him like...like he was nothing...

How dare she.... How dare she treat him like he was some low demoninator that she could just dismiss... How dare she act like he was not a threat to her... Perhaps he should give her something to be afraid of.

Without thinking, without saying a word, without caring what Rudy or his stupid friends thought, Skrawl immediately charged towards Sandra.

sss

Penny widened her eyes in horror when she saw Skrawl take off at Sandra so suddenly. She wanted to call out to him, making him stop. But the jellybean seemed utterly determined. It was clear that nothing was going to stop him.

And sure enough, even with Rudy and Mint shouting at Skrawl to stop, even with Sandra becoming fully aware of what he was doing, Skrawl still charged her. Penny couldn’t help but grimace, gritting her teeth. Though she was aware that Skrawl was one of their enemies, she couldn’t help but feel sorry for him when Sandra turned her full attention on him.

But to her and everyone’s surprise, Skrawl moved faster than Sandra could keep up with. His massive form collided with her, sending her into the ground. This momentarily stunned her long enough for Skrawl to jump on her and pin her down. His hand gripped her head tightly, covering the triangular symbol. Sandra immediately let out a loud hiss and struggled underneath him, her body squirming about.

This sight was difficult to look away from. They glanced at one another and then back again, trying to figure out what to make of it. Skrawl was doing a good job with holding her down, but how long would that last? It was only a matter of time before Sandra got desperate enough and she did something about this. It would be so easy for her to regain control and with the situation was it was now...

But there was no time for that. They couldn’t just stand there, staring at the two zoners fighting. They had to do something and quickly. If they don’t take action soon...

“What are we going to do?!” Mint was the first one to cry out. His eyes hadn’t left the scene before them. “Shouldn’t we try to do something?!”

Rudy looked rather lost. He tried to respond, but he constantly shut his mouth, looking quite unsure. It looked as if he was struggling to find the answer, but was constantly met with failure. “I...I don’t know...I...”

Penny could detect the doubt on Rudy’s voice and she could see the confusion in Mint’s eyes. She looked back at Skrawl and bit her lip. They couldn’t just leave Skrawl. Despite him being an enemy, something about that just felt..wrong.

But even if they did try to help him, what could they do? It didn’t seem like they had a ton of options available. They had no magic chalk and no weaponry. That dragon still had her super healing powers that she could use on them at any time. What kind of match were they against that, as they were now? They were hardly a threat to her before. What good were they in a fight against her now?

But they couldn’t just stand here forever. Sandra was not going to be distracted for long. They had to make a decision and quickly. Before Sandra could...

“Get out of here!” Skrawl suddenly shouted at them. The three teenagers nearly jumped at his sudden shout and turned to stare at the jellybean, who looked at them all with his mismatched eyes intently. “I’ll keep her busy! Just get out of here! Now!”

The three teenagers were stunned by this. They exchanged glances, wondering if they were hearing right. They all thought that they must have been mishearing something, or that surely there was something else going on. But no matter how many times they thought about it and no matter how many ideas of what Skrawl could be doing raced through their head, they could not change what they were seeing.

Skrawl was actually providing a distraction for them...

They didn’t know if this had been intentional or not. It could be just as easily that Skrawl just wanted a piece of Sandra and saw the opportunity to let them get away. Or maybe he just wanted the ‘glory’ of taking care of Sandra himself, which was just as much of a possibility. No, it was even more so. They all knew how Skrawl was. And that was probably what was going on here.

But the question now was...should they go? Should they take his orders and just leave? That seemed like the best solution right now. They needed to figure out where Sandra put their magic chalk. As of now, they didn’t really have too much to fight back against Sandra with. But could they really bring themselves to leave Skrawl behind, regardless of what he had done to them before? The idea of leaving anyone at the hands of Sandra seemed...just too cruel. Even if that someone were Skrawl.

“What are you waiting for?! Just go!” Skrawl shouted after a while of silence.

“What about you?!” Penny found herself calling out to the jellybean. “Are you sure you want to...”

Skrawl gritted his teeth. “Just get the fuck out of here!”

“Skrawl...!” Penny started to shout back, only to be silenced when she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked over and she could see Rudy staring at her.

“He’s not going to listen. Nothing we say or do is going to change his mind.” Rudy looked over at Skrawl, watching for a couple of seconds while he fought against Sandra. Then he looked back at Penny. “Let’s just get out of here now, while we still have a chance.”

“Skrawl can handle himself, anyway. Sandra’s going to get some beating before she manages to do anything to Skrawl.” Mint offered a small smile at this. It was slightly shaky, as though he were trying to convince even himself of this. “So come on! Let’s use this time to escape while we can!”

Penny still didn’t like the idea. She didn’t ever want to leave someone, regardless if they were a villain or not, at the mercy of Sandra. It just...didn’t feel right. But at the same time, she understood that Mint and Rudy were right. Skrawl could handle himself and this might be their one chance to get away. If they didn’t take this opportunity....

Penny nodded her head once. “All right then. Let’s go.”

Then, without further hesitation, the group of friends immediately ran off down the hallway. They could hear Sandra shouting at them and Skrawl’s threatening roars to the dragon. They could hear shouts of pain and fury. But none of that slowed them down. They just kept on running, hoping to get as far away from Sandra within this window of opportunity as they could.


	24. Out Of The Ordinary

Must be strangely exciting to watch the stoic squirm!  
-Uninvited, Alanis Morissette

sss

A part of Rudy had no idea why he agreed to run away. A part of him just wanted to turn back around and face Sandra. This part of him was constantly nagging at him, and he could almost feel a hand around his throat, wanting to slap himself in the face.

But the other part of him knew that they didn’t have much of a choice. True, he and the others would have loved to stay behind and try to deal with Sandra. They all had that burning desire in them. They all wanted to stop her permanently this time, making sure what she could not cause anymore pain.

And even if they hated Skrawl, they could not feel good about leaving him behind. He did not doubt that Skrawl could take care of himself, but...this was still Sandra they were referring to. A monster with no remorse for her actions. There was little to suggest that Sandra would go easy on Skrawl. And knowing just what she was truly capable of...

But all they could do right now was just..keep on running. They all hoped that they would be able to get far away from here before Sandra had time to get to them. They needed a place where they can regroup and discuss matters further. They stood little chance of figuring things out if they had that darn dragon on their tail. Even though he would not wish any fate Sandra could offer on Skrawl, Rudy did still hope that the jellybean would be able to keep Sandra’s attention long enough for them all to get away.

He and his friends continued to run as fast as they could. Their feet pummeled against the ground and their breathing became heavy and intermixed. He didn’t dare stop. Not even to look over his shoulders. He just kept going and going, hoping that they would be able to find a place to escape into.

But these hallways all looked the same. He couldn’t really tell one hallway from the other. They all had that stoney, castle kind of look, if that made any sense. This only added further confusion as to where they should go. Heck, for all they knew, they were headed in complete circles.

But none of them dared try to stop. There was no way that they could do something like that. Even as they were getting tired, panting heavily, they all knew the consequences of stopping too early. The last thing that they wanted was to make themselves potential targets. They might not have run into the Beanie Boys yet, but that didn’t mean that they weren’t out there. And Sandra...she could be coming after them at any moment. Any amount of rest just wasn’t worth it.

This hallway, however... How can they tell if they were even going the right way? How can they tell that they weren’t heading straight into a trap? Knowing Sandra, she probably had...something set up around here. If they weren’t careful, they may end up tripping the alarm and getting caught in something. And that would only...

Rudy felt himself nearly tripping into the ground. And these darn metal legs... He clutched his hand against them as he leaned against the wall. It was getting harder and harder to control them. A part of him wished that he had his wheelchair. At least he felt more secure and confident in moving around in that. Plus, it was really weird trying to walk with limbs that he could hardly feel anymore. He appreciated why his friends drew them for him. But in this situation, they felt more like a hinderance and a burden than anything helpful.

No time to stop now, though. He had to keep moving. Noticing that his friends hadn’t stopped, not noticing that he was resting, Rudy let out a grunt and he started to push himself to run towards them. He huffed and puffed, struggling to move quick enough to catch up to the other two. It was only when he was right behind them that they seemed to realize that he had fallen behind. They looked over behind them and noticed Rudy’s expression and their eyes widened.

“Rudy...?” Penny spoke softly. “Are you okay?”

Rudy nodded his head. “Yeah, I’m fine. Don’t worry about me! Just keep going!”

“Are you sure? We can stop...” Mint started to say.

“No! We don’t have time for that! Just keep running!”

There was still some level of reluctance from his friends. He could see that they were both unsure about keeping up the pace, considering stopping for him. Not that Rudy didn’t understand why. It was quite clear the reason for this. But he didn’t want them stopping, even for him. They needed to keep moving until they found a safe place that they could rest in. Otherwise, they might as well just wear targets on their chests.

Rudy winced as he felt his legs start to falter again. Once more, his concentration had been too split, making him grit his teeth. He needed to push himself harder while at the same time still keeping attention to his legs. He can’t afford to let himself wobble too much. Not in this condition. Not now...

He could feel something grab onto his arms. He turned his head left and right and he could see that Penny and Mint had both gotten beside him and grabbed onto him. Rudy made a weak attempt to dislodge them, not wanting them to slow themselves down just for his sake. They would not be deterred, however, and they kept a firm grip on his arms as they continued to race down the hallway.

“G-Guys! Really...I can run on my own! Please just let me go...I...”

“No way!” Mint shook his head furiously. “We ain’t leaving you behind!”

“But I can keep up!” Rudy winced as he felt his leg nearly trip over something. “If you’d just let me...”

“Forget it, Rudy! We are not letting you go! We’re your friends! We’re going to make sure you are able to keep up with us!” Mint shouted at him. Not out of anger, but out of concern.

“Yeah, Rudy!” Penny adjusted herself so that Rudy’s arm was slung over her back more securely. “There is no way that we are going to risk you falling too far behind! We already lost Snap to Sandra. I...” She paused for a moment, her teeth gritting tightly. Then she continued, “I am not losing you, too.”

At this, Rudy felt his legs nearly give out as emotion raced through him. His eyes widened and he could feel his mouth dropping open. He stared at Penny, noticing the expression in her eyes even as she looked away to focus on what was in front of them. Even Mint carried the same expression. This caused a surge of emotions to race through Rudy as uncomfortable memories surfaced.

Poor Snap... He had no idea what had been done to his friend. Sandra stole him from them and didn’t bother telling them what she had in store for him. They didn’t know if Sandra decided to keep him alive for a while or if she had killed him off. Sandra hadn’t even allowed them to say goodbye to Snap. She just...took him..

Rudy could feel his heart twisting in his chest, intermixing with the pounding of his feet with each stride that he took with his legs. He could see Snap’s image in the back of his head and he could feel a sharp pain in his stomach. He couldn’t begin to imagine what kind of pain and misery that Sandra would put him through. He recalled all that emotional turmoil that she had forced him through five years ago. Just what more could she do to him now? He honestly didn’t want to know.

How much more was Snap going to have to suffer? How much more abuse was he going to have to take before it was finally over? Rudy wished there was some kind of countdown that he could turn to so he could tell Snap that it was finally over. But....that seemed like more and more of an impossibility.

Rudy shook his head and struggled to focus on running as quickly as he could. With his friends helping him, it was a little easier. His legs still tripped over themselves sometimes. At least this time, Mint and Penny were able to keep him from falling down. Their tightened grips enabled them to keep running as a single unit across the hallway.

This particular hallway was only slightly smaller than the others, but otherwise did not have much of a unique physical look to them. It stretched out ahead for a while, though he thought for sure that he saw a slight curve in front, bending to the left. He could see what appeared to be some kind of shadow, and he thought at first that it was some kind of staircase. This caused him to frown and made him wonder if they had somehow managed to get all the way back to the middle of the castle with all that running.

Then, as they made the slight turn, he soon realized that this wasn’t the case. Instead, there was nothing but a darkened shadow with a wall hidden past it. An incomplete corridor, looking like that it was recently recently worked on. Realizing that this was going to take them smashing into the wall if they didn’t stop, the three friends began to slow down...

...but as soon as they did, Rudy felt his leg hit against something and he heard a click. He immediately looked down, but though he could not see any button or tripwire or anything, he could feel the ground beneath his feet moving. He, Mint, and Penny barely had time to give each other glances before the parting ground made them lose their balance. They struggled not to fall, but they wobbled from one side to the other, their legs unable to remain planted. In a matter of seconds, they finally tripped.

And downwards, they all plunged. They released a series of screams as they were falling down the stone, makeshift slide around and around, twisting and turning and even looping. A complex structure hidden underneath the surface. None of them knew the purpose of this complexion, but at the moment, none of them really cared.

Rudy struggled to keep himself from falling down. There were no railings on this thing and there wasn’t much of an edge, either. He kept his hands on the sides, ignoring the uncomfortable sensation that this created, as they continued sliding down. He could feel his friends pressed up behind him as they went around and around. He started to feel light headed and a slight dizzying sensation. And all the while, they just kept screaming.

Then, at last, they reached the bottom. Rudy could feel his body being launched in one direction, his friends screaming and flailing behind him. He crashed into the ground painfully, his body doing a couple of flips before he finally stopped.

For several moments, he just laid there. He couldn’t even hear his friends landing nearby; his head was filled with the echoes of his own screams and groans as he struggled to push aside the pain. It took him several moments to even start to lift his head. When he finally did, feeling a slight crack in the middle of his neck, he slowly turned his head left and right, taking in the sight around him.

They were in some kind of...the only word he could think of to describe it is cave-like but... Had they really gone that far underground? Well they had been falling for a while, doing constant loops. It did make sense that they really had been pushed this far underground. But that still didn’t answer his initial question.

Where the hell were they...?

“This place is...huge...”

Rudy turned his head and he could see that Mint had already gotten up to his feet. He moved forward slowly, his prosthetic foot kickin against one of the loose rocks, knocking it askew and letting it roll forward.

“It’s almost like we entered a whole new place.” Mint whispered softly. “This..does not fit in well with the rest of the castle...”

“You’re right, Mint.” Penny said as she brushed herself off. “This does not seem to fit in with the rest of this place. I wonder if Skrawl had hastily built it for...”

Rudy swiveled his head towards Penny. “You really think Skrawl would make a place like this?”

Penny nodded her head. “Oh sure! The entrance was quite well hidden and this place is obviously deep underground. He could have built this to hide something.” She paused as she started to tap her chin thoughtfully. “..but what could that be..?”

“Maybe that will explain it?” Mint said as he pointed in one direction.

Rudy and Penny looked over at where Mint was pointing at. Up the pathway, where a few stalagmites and stalactites seemed to curve inward, they could see what appeared to be some kind of a door. The moment that they saw this, they immediately looked at each other, their eyes going wide.

So...this place had been built...or at the very least, someone had made a room down here. There was some kind of purpose to this place after all. And the only way for them to find out was to go through that door.

There was some hesitation at first. None of them really knew what to expect on the other side. They didn’t know if it was some kind of booby trap or not. They didn’t know if Skrawl had built this just to fool them. They didn’t know if some kind of vicious animal laid on the other side.

But in the end, they knew that the only way to find out was to head through. So, staring at each other for a moment, they all nodded their heads once and they turned to glare at the door. After preparing themselves mentally, they all took in deep breaths and, slowly, they headed towards the door.

sss

“You irritating piece of trash! I should have killed you when I had the chance!”

“Well you didn’t, and now look at where you are! This is what you get when you double cross me!”

“Stop this! Or are you looking for a far worse punishment?!”

“Like hell I’m afraid of you!”

“I know that you are afraid and I will make you admit it!”

Sandra couldn’t believe how things had turned out. She had thought it was all going her way. She thought that she had everything figured out... But in the end, she only got a reminder of why she shouldn’t jump to conclusions so soon. She wound up jinxing herself. It was, in some ways, her fault that this had happened. Now it was her responsibility to try to fix things before they got out of hand.

She was shocked that Skrawl had so willingly attacked her so quickly. She had thought that she had messed with his mind enough that he would think twice before that. She could still smell the fear on him, so it wasn’t like he wasn’t afraid. He just...wasn’t terrified of her enough. And here he was, wrestling with her, trying to pin her to the ground...

She was aware of what was going on, though. Skrawl certainly was acting out of vengefulness. He was allowing his emotions to get the better of him. But in doing so, he was providing those brats with a way to escape. The thought of them getting away after she had worked so hard to capture them all burned her blood, making her grit her teeth. She was not going to allow all her hard work go down the drain that easily.

The two continued to roll across the ground, fighting and struggling with each other. Sandra attempted to strike out with her leg, but Skrawl had grabbed onto it. She let out a screech as she found herself being slammed into the ground. She attempted to get back onto her feet, but Skrawl was too quick for her. Before she knew it, the jellybean managed to pin her against the floor.

She struggled to activate her healing powers. But the jellybean had become quite smart. His claws were pressing against her forehead. She seethed from the pain; she was quite sensitive there and feeling those claws press against her mark was...it was indescribable. She tried jerking herself from side to side. The jellybean’s larger frame made it difficult for her to affectively sway him in either direction. He managed to keep holding her down, his claws pressing deeper into her body.

Sandra seethed. “You are really pushing my buttons, Skrawl... We could have handled this in a more mature manner, but look at what you’re doing!”

“Don’t you dare pull that shit on me, you stupid dragon! You started this whole thing when you betrayed me! And now...I am going to make sure that you pay for that!”

Sandra let out a yelp when she felt Skrawl’s claws driving into her body. The sharp tips penetrated her flesh and she could feel blood trickling down from the fresh wound in her side. She tossed her head from side to side, trying to snap her jaws at Skrawl. Her jaws slammed shut several times, her teeth clanging together. But each time she tried to bite, she only ended up biting at air.

Skrawl had been quite clever. He was sitting down on top of her. Well almost; he was using most of his weight to keep her down. While one hand was holding against her side, the other held her head down, his claws pressing against her mark. Even when she squirmed her head around to try to bite, she couldn’t get to him from this angle. Skrawl was situated behind her; she had no way of biting any part of him like this.

But she was not about to give up. The jellybean might have her down for now. But he was not going to be able to keep this up forever. She just needed to find some kind of weak spot. An area that Skrawl had missed. Something that he did not think of...

And then it struck her like a lightning bolt. There was something that she indeed had been overlooking.

Her tail. Skrawl had forgotten all about her tail.

Indeed, Sandra could still feel it wriggling back there. And unlike her neck, her tail was quite flexible. She could manuever it around in more precise and extreme angles compared to her neck. And even if she broke her tail, at least her whole body was not going to come crashing down with it.

Keeping herself struggling so that Skrawl did not realize what she was doing, Sandra started to raise her tail up slowly. She tried to envision where Skrawl was in relation to her tail. She had to make sure she struck quick and true, no faltering, no mistakes. Otherwise Skrawl might decide to take this chance to...

Sandra let out a low growl as she tensed up the muscles in her tail. She moved it closer and closer, letting it stiffen up until it felt almost like a heavy brick. She moved her tail back a little, continuing to wind it up like there were a spring inside. She waited until the right moment, and then...

The tail suddenly sprung backward, moving like a cracked whip across the sky. She thought she heard it snap as soon as she released it. She then heard a crack when she felt it make contact with Skrawl’s back. She could feel her tail spikes raking against the jellybean’s flesh and she could feel the warmth of his blood even on her spike tips.

Skrawl immediately let out a scream of pain. She could hear him arch himself backwards, his back cracking in the process, his claws leaving her body as he tensed up from the screaming. Sandra took this opportunity to slip out of his grasp, racing forward on all fours before turning around, raising her back up and twitching her tail like an angered cat.

Skrawl had blood dripping down his back. From his position, Sandra could not see the full damage that she caused. But judging from how much blood was moving along onto the ground, she had to say that she did at least some damage to him. But she knew that this would not keep him distracted for long. But now that she was free...

Sandra didn’t have long to stand there. Skrawl had recovered quicker than she had imagined and already he was charging towards her. She stiffened up from the suddenness of his charge and she immediately jumped out of the way before the jellybean had time to strike at her. Sandra turned herself around and was about to activate her healing powers when she suddenly felt a set of sharp claws slash against her body.

The force of the impact caused her to fly backwards. She laned in the ground painfully, almost feeling as though her back was busted open. She shook her head and she looked up, baring her teeth. She gagged when she felt Skrawl holding onto her neck. He glared at her for only a moment before he raised up his hand and struck down, his claws slicing across her face.

Sandra howled and held onto her face, her body stiffening and shaking from the pain as she felt one of the claws cut across her triangular mark. It was not a deep cut, but oh gawd, the pain...

Sandra glared in Skrawl’s direction, her vision suddenly taking on a reddish color. She pulled her lips back into a snarl and she seethed in and out deeply. She opened her jaws and let out a loud, growling hiss like she was a snake ready to strike. Skrawl paused for a moment and then raised his hand up to strike her again. Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. No...not again.

With a rush of adrenaline and determination, Sandra launched herself at Skrawl. Freeing herself, she collided with the large jellybean, forcing him into the ground. She stood on top of him, pressing her sharp talons into his body. She spread out her limbs to keep her balance and she released another loud hiss at him. Drool dripped from her jaws as her pupils dilated into near slits.

“You...have made a very big mistake...” Sandra hissed at the fallen jellybean. Skrawl just glared back at her, acting as if he wasn’t afraid. But she could still smell the fear on him and this caused her to smile twistedly. “If you want to play so badly... Okay, I will play with you...”

Sandra did not waste any time. Before Skrawl had time to react, she launched her head forward and she bit down onto one of his antennas. Immediately, the jellybean screeched in agony. His body thrashed about and he struggled to push her away. Though she could feel his claws raking against her, she ignored this and she continued to bite him sinking her teeth into the antenna, threatening to rip it out.

All the while, Skrawl screamed and squirmed underneath her. He kept trying to slash at her or kick or whatever else. He even got desperate enough to try to bite her, but even that wasn’t working. Sandra just gave a dark chuckle as she got a good grip on his antennas and yanked back as hard as she could, causing Skrawl to let out a scream of agony.

Sandra dug her claws in deeper into the struggling jellybean, making sure that she had a good grip on him. Her tail swished down and slammed against his side, driving the spikes inside his flesh, providing more leverage and making Skrawl scream even louder. His body thrashed about on the ground and the jellybean threw a slew of insults and threats at Sandra. But none of this was enough to make the blue dragon let him go. She just continued to hold onto him, her sharp teeth nearly tearing off that stupid antenna of his.

That’s it... Almost there...

And...

With a loud tear, it was off.

Sandra fell backwards as the tension from the antenna was suddenly gone. In her jaws, she could feel the hard tip that made up the top of the antenna, and she could feel the stringy strucker flap against her mouth. She could feel a tiny bit of blood dripping from the tip. She looked up at the screaming jellybean.

On Skrawl’s head, there was a red pinkish tear from where the antenna used to be. It stretched from the top of his head and moved down. To her surprise, it nearly tore straight into his one eye. Looking down, she realized that some of the moistness she felt was from a bit of skin that had been removed in the process. Not that she cared. She tossed the torn antenna into the air and started to eat it right in front of Skrawl.

The green jellybean stared at her in shock, his eyes widening. Then they narrowed into slits and his teeth were clenched tightly, exposed so she could see them. She merely smirked back at him as she swallowed the rest of the antenna.

“Not too bad of a flavor. Though still kind of stale.” Sandra commented. She licked her feather fingers a couple of times. Then she tilted her head to one side. “Then again, you do live a really...stale life.”

She could see Skrawl’s body tremble at that statement. Even before Skrawl replied, his facial expressions alone were enough to tell her that she had hit a sore spot in him. The only thing that she did was curl her lips back into a dark, twisted smile. She folded her arms against her chest and just had such a smug look on her face.

And Skrawl reacted just the way that she wanted him to.

Skrawl charged forward as quickly as he could, letting out a loud yell. In the process, he had been too hasty. Too quick, doing little to try to think about what he was doing. In his eyes, the only thing that mattered was getting his claws into her.

Too bad that he didn’t stop to think. Otherwise, he could have avoided this whole mess. She stood there for several moments, waiting for him to get close enough. And when he did, that’s when she made her move.

Before Skrawl could get close enough to strike, Sandra took off into the air. The jellybean nearly fell into the ground trying to strike at her. He hissed and he looked left and right, trying to figure out just where she went. It took him a few seconds to finally spot her in the air. He opened his mouth and let out a hiss, raising his hands up and showcasing his claws to her.

Sandra struggled not to laugh at the sight of this. How pitiful... Did Skrawl really think that he could scare her so easily? Well, he was going to need to try harder if he was going to want to intimidate her in any way. Right now, he just looked so pathetic. There was so little that he could do to her from down there. Especially since...

Sandra’s eyes widened when Skrawl suddenly moved faster than she had anticipated. She struggled to react, move out of the way, do something. But this time, she had been too slow. She felt claws rake into her stomach and she let out a screech of pain. She toppled through the air, flapping hard, trying to keep herself aloft. Though she was able to succeed, this was short-lived and she found herself crashing into the ground.

She coughed and grunted as she pushed herself up from the ground. She shook her head and she looked over. She was just in time to see those claws rake against her face, covering her field of vision. She let out a loud screech as she held her hands against her face, collapsing into the ground and shivering from the agony. She couldn’t stop herself from letting out soft whimpers as tears of pain started to leak out of her uninjured eye.

“It doesn’t feel so good being on the ground, now does it?!” Skrawl stood over her in a triumphant manner. She just glared at him, her eyes narrowed into slits and baring her teeth. “Do you wish you hadn’t crossed me now, Sandra? I bet you do! I bet you feel so stupid right about now!” Skrawl spread his hands outward. “I bet you wish you had agreed to work with a genius like myself!”

Sandra glared at him with her one narrowed eye. She could still feel the warm, sticky blood leaking out of her right eye. She hardly paid attention to that, however, as her focus was entirely on Skrawl. She could feel her gut twist and burn as she listened to him rant. Such a smug, arrogant jellybean... It was going to be so much fun tearing him down.

While Skrawl was in the middle of boasting, she took this chance to lash him across his side with her tail spikes. The jellybean let out a howl of pain and he clutched his hands to his side where more bleeding came from. Sandra struggled up to her feet and she gave him a dark smirk.

“C-Come on, big boy... Want to dance...?” Sandra cooed at him.

Skrawl snarled at her, his teeth grinding together. “I will tear you into pieces!”

“Oh? Then come on now....” Sandra adopted a dinosaur-like stance, her back parallel to the ground, her spiked tail swishing from side to side slowly. “Let’s have a party...”

With that, the two zoners raced towards each other.

sss

Going through the door had been a difficult process. Not because it was hard to open. No, it was because, despite the fact that they knew they had to enter, there was still some reluctance among the group of friends. They had no idea what to expect, and if they opened the door too swiftly, with no plan...

But there was little time. For all they knew, a Beanie Boy might have heard them and was heading down towards them as they spoke. Or maybe Sandra had followed them silently. If they wanted to see what was in side, if they wanted at least a small chance of figuring something out, they needed to go through the door.

So taking in a deep breath, Penny gripped the door knob tightly. She paused for a moment, looking at her two friends beside her. They looked at her, nodding their heads once in approval. Both showed signs of nervousness, but their eyes carried encouragement. Something that Penny truly appreciated. So turning her attention back to the door, Penny managed to get herself to turn it and they all entered.

The door led into a rather small room. It was quite surprising. She had thought that this would have been much larger. Instead, they were greeted with a small, circular structure with a hard surface in the middle, perhaps something of a table, even if there was nowhere to really sit down at. The pathway itself was pretty narrow, and Penny almost felt a sense of claustrophia from the little space that there was. They could still move around, but they had to take extra care not to bang their knees up or anything.

All around, circulating along with the path itself, they could see a series of books. All kinds of books. They were pushed in so snuggly and there was so many of them... None of them were labeled and while there was some alternating colors, they were too close to the same color as each other, making them all blend in with one another. Some dust and cobwebs covered certain sections, making them realize that these parts hadn’t been touched in a long time.

“Books...? Who knew that jellybean loved to read?” Mint commented as he folded his arms against his chest, his eyes narrowing. “I would have thought that he kept some kind of weaponry here or something. Or...” He lifted his head and shook it. “I don’t know. Just...not books.”

Rudy nodded his head slowly in agreement. “I wasn’t expecting this, either. I would think that these belong to someone else, but...” Rudy took a few steps around, placing his hand on the rocky structure in the middle. “It just doesn’t really make a whole lot of sense.” He tilted his head back and peered upwards. “What would Skrawl want with all of these books?”

“That is a valid question. It doesn’t seem likely that Skrawl would collect all these books unless he had some kind of use for them.” Penny tapped her chin thoughtfully. “Maybe if we were to look through one of them, we might get some kind of idea. I mean...” Penny raised her hands at her side. “None of these books appear to have any sort of label on them. If we were to look at one of them, we might get an idea of what these books are supposed to be.”

Rudy and Mint nodded their heads at this.

“That does make sense...” Rudy turned his head over to Mint, giving him a small smile. “Do you want to do the honors?”

“Me? Why me?” Mint asked as he placed his hand against his chest. “Why don’t you do it?”

“You’re closer to one of the books.” Rudy said bluntly. “And don’t argue with me on this, Mint. Just open up a book and tell us if there’s anything of importance inside.”

Mint let out a soft grumble, but he did what he was told. Turning his attention to the shelf, which he was indeed closest to, he grabbed onto a random book. No planning, no rummaging through. Just..grabbing a book and pullling it out. He wasted no time opening the book and looking inside.

Rudy and Penny watched as Mint turned the pages slowly, thumbing through with his finger, his eyes moving left and right as he tried to read through what was written. They watched as his facial expression kept changing. First confusion, then understanding, then utter shock. This all happened in such a short time span that it was difficult to even keep track of the changes. And when Mint looked back at them, wide-eyed, they couldn’t even see the movement.

Seeing the look in Mint’s face caused the two to gulp nervously and they exchanged brief glances with each other. What had gotten Mint so worried and shocked? Why was he looking at them like that? Why did he look like he was ready to drop the book? What was going on?

“Mint...?” Penny asked softly, forcing herself to speak. Seeing her friend standing there like that was starting to scare her, and she could feel her heart skipping several beats. “Mint..I....” She reached towards him. “Mint, what’s wrong? What is...?”

“D-Diary...”

Penny immediately froze at this. She yanked her hand back. “What?”

Rudy narrowed his eyes, looking as if he didn’t really believe what he just heard. “A diary...?” He tilted his head to one side. “A diary from...who...?”

Mint slowly looked down at the book again. He lifted it up slightly, looking as if he was giving it another brief examination, as if he himself could not believe it. He then looked back at them, and he licked his lips slowly. “It’s Skrawl’s diary...”

At this, Rudy and Penny immediately froze in shock. They stared at each other, their minds racing through their heads. They looked back at Mint, wondering if he could be making it up. That did not seem very likely, however. Their expressions told it all. No, there was no way that he was lying about this. And that only sent them into further confusion.

A diary? After all this time, Skrawl kept a...diary? It almost seemed too much to fathom. Skrawl never seemed to be the type to keep diaries with him. He wasn’t exactly the most.... Penny was not really sure what word to use to describe him. Ultimately, though, she just...could not see Skrawl writing in a diary. It didn’t really make a lot of sense. It just....didn’t fit his character. He...

Wait a minute... Perhaps it did fit. Maybe she and the others should not be so shocked about this discovery. Her mind reeled back and she thought about what happened when they first met Skrawl. He used to do some random song numbers, despite the lack of musical accompanyment. Speaking in rhymes about what he was feeling. If he could be that graceful on the fly with music, should it be that difficult to believe him writing a diary?

Slowly, she began to realize something. The idea clicked in her mind like a lightbulb being turned on. What if they could use this massive diary to their advantage in some way? What if there was something Skrawl had hidden here, within his archives, that they might find useful?

The idea of snooping around someone’s diary, even if it was Skrawl’s, did not settle well with her at first. And she knew that Mint and Rudy would not like it too much, either. But when it comes to this situation, where so much was at stake... There was little else that they could do. If Skrawl’s diaries somehow had information hidden that they could use to stop Sandra, or even figure out hidden passageways among this place, then it was worth the risk.

Besides, it wasn’t like Skrawl would have anything shocking written down. Penny imagined that most of his entries would revolve around his failed attempts at conquering ChalkZone or how much he wanted them all dead or something. So nothing that unusual; they’d all expect entries like that.

Turning her attention over to her friends, Penny raised her hand up in gesture and said, “Guys, I think I have an idea...”

sss

Skrawl let out a loud growl as he raised up his hand, his claws arching downward, and struck out at Sandra. He hissed loudly as his claws seemed to miss her entirely as she jumped to the side. He gritted his teeth at this, forming a fist with his hand. He wasn’t going to let her get away that easily. So he charged at her again.

He wasn’t really sure how long he had been fighting her. And at this point, he didn’t really care. The only thing that mattered to him was making Sandra pay for what she had done to him and his Beanie Boys. He had longed for this moment and he was not going to let it slip out of his grasp.

His claws missed yet again. He could see that smug little look on Sandra’s face. He could tell that, to her, this was all just some sort of game. And this infruriated Skrawl. It was almost as if she was unable to take this more seriously. Did she not understand the situation that she was in? Did she really not know, or comprehend, what happens when you mess with Skrawl, the future ruler of ChalkZone? Well...perhaps he should show her why she should be afraid...

Skrawl launched himself at the sky blue dragon. He spread his claws out, poised to strike. He attempted to strike at her, hoping to manage to hit her before she could get away. Unfortunately, that was not the case and Sandra managed to jump out of the way in time. Up in the air, she flew, smirking down at his form below.

Skrawl was about to try jump at her when he felt a sharp pain in his body. It was not from Sandra, he knew. It was from the injuries he had suffered during his fight with her. Most of the time, he was able to control himself and not give into the pain. And it had worked for a while.

...but now it seemed that the tides were finally turning. The pain wracked through his body in a rather painful fashion, and he couldn’t help but shudder. He could feel it crawling through him, burning at his sides and making his knees nearly buckle. He tried not to show his pained expression to Sandra, not wanting to allow her to see him like this.

But his effort to hide it was useless. He could hear that stupid dragon laughing at him, her body moving around in a small circle above him like a vulture finding dead prey. Skrawl glared at this, gritting his teeth. He would have to think of something and fast. If she were to try launching an attack now...

Skrawl turned his head to one side and noticed that, with all their fighting, he had failed to notice that they had gotten pretty close to the cage that he had been in before. He could see the cold metal bars on the ground, just sort of laying there. He stared from them and then turned his attention over to Sandra. Slowly, his eyes narrowed as an idea formulated in his head. If he could just get the timing right...

Sandra flapped above him for several moments, her mouth opened up into a twisted smile. Skrawl had no idea why she hadn’t tried using her super healing powers on him. Maybe she was getting cocky. Maybe she planned on doing it later. Or maybe she just wanted to make this more interesting. Well it was her funeral; this was only opening up the gateway to his victory over her.

Sandra dove right towards him. Her talons were brought forward, stretching out as if she was hoping to grab onto him. Skrawl narrowed his eyes and gave a dark smirk. He remained where he stood for several moments, his body slightly hunched as he prepared to launch his own attack. Sandra did not seem to notice him reaching for the metal bar on the ground. Either she was really determined and just didn’t see it, or she was being overly cocky. Well that attitude was going to cost her. He would see to that.

Before Sandra had time to collide with him, Skrawl had taken action. His hand tightening around the bar, he lifted it up with a single motion. The metal bar had a blurriness to it as he swung it as hard as he could. Sandra immediately froze, her eyes wide in horror as the bar was thrown directly at her. The blue dragon did not have time to react before it collide with her.

Skrawl flinched slightly as he heard the metal clang against the solid body of the dragon zoner. He did turn away for a moment, but this only lasted a second before he looked back and smirked darkly as he watched Sandra crash into the ground. Her body rolled around for a bit before it finally came to a stop several feet away.

He watched and waited for a few moments to see if she would get back up. But she just laid there, her body slightly curled, her eyes shut. It almost looked as if he had managed to knock her out. Skrawl wasn’t really sure if this was the case or not. He did hit her hard but...could he really have struck her that hard? It didn’t seem possible. Maybe he just...

Skrawl shook his head. He shouldn’t get his mind too carried away in his thoughts. Regardless if she was knocked out or not, he needed to take this chance to finish Sandra off before she could get up. He let out a soft growl as he started to approach her slowly, his claws flexing eagerly. He was so going to enjoy this.

Slowly he made his way closer and closer to the downed blue dragon. He watched as her form breathed heavily on the ground, shaky breath after shaky breath. He could see, even when she was laying down, she still clutched at her side, holding onto it as if feeling some horrific pain there, which was likely the case; that was where he had struck her, after all.

Soon, he was positioned right in front of her. He took a moment to stare down at her, his dark smile spreading over his face, excited to finally deal the finishing blow. He raised his hand up, the claw tips glinting, poised to strike. He did not hesitate for another second and he struck his hand down.

Suddenly, there was a wave of pain that struck him. His eyes bulged and he clutched onto one of his limbs. He could feel something start to push up underneath the surface. He clenched his teeth tightly and he seethed as he struggled to manage the pain. But it turned out to be impossible and, before he knew it, the skin in his leg started to rip open and he could feel blood seeping out. Immediately, he released a loud, echoing scream.

His scream was cut off when he felt something strike against his side. He howled in agony as he was knocked into the ground, his body landing in a heavy thud. He laid there for several seconds, his body trembling. He looked over and he could see Sandra was standing up again. How did she stand up so quickly? Did she...did she trick him...?

Skrawl didn’t have much time to dwell on that realization before Sandra started to chuckle darkly, approaching him with her arms folded behind her back. “Did you really think that I would be so easily taken down, dear Skrawl? My, you should try harder than that!”

Skrawl let out a low growl at this. “F-Fuck you...”

Sandra’s eyes twinkled, the redness almost seeming to glow. “I see you still have an attitude problem... But don’t worry, I know exactly how to fix it.”

“And exactly...” Skrawl let out a cough. “...how are you going to m-manage that?” He gave a weak smile. “You’re just...being desperate..”

Sandra merely shrugged at this, paying no mind to what he said. She just moved closer to him, her body becoming parallel to the ground. She began to circle him slowly, watching as his body twitched and he groaned. “I don’t think I should keep you waiting any longer. I think I should start the punishment now. I mean...no one is around and this is quite a special punishment.”

Skrawl struggled not to show the slightest bit of nervousness to the sky blue dragon zoner. “And just what do you have in mind...?”

Sandra sneered, “You’ll find out...”

sss

Everything was so dark. No matter which way, just dark and gloomy. It surrounded him completely, making it hard for him to even breathe. The shadow encased him securely, refusing to allow him to leave. No matter how hard he tried, there just seemed to be nothing that he could do.

Then he felt the pain come in. A strong pain that snaked along the back of his head. It felt as if someone was driving a hammer against it. He could practically feel the echoes move across his skull and he thought he could feel a little rattling. He clenched his teeth tightly and seethed, the rush of air feeling surprisingly chilly.

He felt a weight of grogginess push down on him. His eyes felt as if they couldn’t open. They were just too heavy for him to move. His mind felt so muggy, so muddled up nad he didn’t know why. Had he fallen asleep and just woke up? Then why did his head hurt so much? Did he bang it against something while he slept?

And why did his bed feel so hard and wooden?

Wait...

Hard and wooden..?

Though still struck down by mugginess, the sense of confusion that he felt did bring him to some alertness. It took him only seconds to realize that him laying on something hard and wooden was not normal. And as his ears twitched about, he began to realize that he was not positioned properly for a bed. He was too...straight. No, diagonal, a posture where he should be slipping off, yet he wasn’t. But why? Why wasn’t he...

He felt something cold against his arms and legs, and he thought he felt something across his stomach. Chilling, cold and hard. He tried to move his limbs a little. He quickly found that they were stuck. Those cold things...they were metal straps, and they were keeping him pinned this...this board that someone had...

His mind racing, he struggled to free himself. He kicked his legs forward, he yanked his arms, whatever he could to try to loosen himself up. He gritted his teeth tightly, turning his head from one side to the other. But nothing he did seemed to work; the only thing he managed to do was bang his limbs against the metal and cause them to ache.

Wanting to at least see where he was, he tried to open up his eyes. He quickly realized that this was an impossible task. With his heart skipping a beat, he soon realized that the actual reason he couldn’t open them before was not because he was so tired; it was because someone had put a blindfold over his eyes.

And with that realization came the panic.

Dr. Gelcro hated to panic. He hated to let his emotions get the better of him. He prided himself in being, usually, more rational than some of his friends.

But in this case, he just...couldn’t hold it in. How could he? He was strapped down, blindfolded, trapped somewhere by some unknown person. He had no idea how he got here or what was going to be done with him. He felt a sharp pain in his head. That alone told him that however had captured him did not exactly have the best intentions for him. He was in big trouble, and he couldn’t even begin to get an idea of what was going to happen to him.

He could feel his heart struggling to jump out of his chest. He took in several quick breaths, his mouth opening wide. He was thankful that at least that wasn’t tied shut. His tongue hung out of his canine-like face as he tried to get his breathing udner control. In and out, he breathed, trying to force his heart and breathing rate to return to normal.

He did manage to get his breathing mostly under control. But his heart was still pumping fast. Not quite as fast, but still at an abnormal rate. He could almost feel it quivering as adrenaline rushed through his body. Even with the strength he was given through this, that was not enough to break himself free. Those metal bars, they were too tight. Whoever wanted him to stay here, they were determined to ensure that he did not leave until they wanted him to.

But...who could have done this? He couldn’t think of anyone who would do something like this. Skrawl was an unlikely suspect. This wasn’t his style. And Sandra.... well she was more likely to have done this, but at the same time, this still did not seem like her. She seemed to be the type to be more...straightforward was perhaps the word? She did not need restraints like this. Maybe a cage, but not restraints.

But then who could have...

Dr. Gelcro’s ears immediately pricked forward when he heard some light tapping against the ground. Someone was coming towards him. His body immediately stiffened, his ears lowering. It had to be his kidnapper. There was no sense of urgency of a friend rushing to help him, or any cautionary sense of someone who was exploring for whatever reason. No, these steps were slow and deliberate, filled with confidence. Whoever these footsteps belonged to, they knew exactly what they were doing.

Dr. Gelcro kept his teeth gritted, his lips pulled back so that his captor would see them. He might not be able to see their reaction, but he would rather know that his kidnapper could see that he was baring his teeth at him than show any sign of weakness.

He hissed softly when he heard the loud squeaking of a door opening. He could hear someone coming inside. He could hear a soft curious-sounding sigh being released. He could hear the tapping of claws on the ground as the person kept walking further into the room. There had been no slow down during this. Dr. Gelcro had to guess that the room was pretty large if this person could keep walking without ending up that close to him after all this time. Or perhaps his perception of time was a little skewed.

Feeling a rush of scents strike him, Dr. Gelcro’s nostrils began to flare. He took in quick huffs of air through his nose as he struggled to figure out just who it was in the room with him. In and out, he breathed quickly, struggling to get some sense of who was walking in here. It was difficult to tell at first; the scent was intermixed with something.

Yet...there was still something familiar about one particular scent. Something that he knew that he should know. But..just what was it? Why did it smell so familiar...and yet so different to him right now? There was indeed something strikingly familiar about this smell, yet he could not think of just what that was. It just seemed to...strike home for some reason.

Then he felt someone touching him. Something light and soft grazed along his arm. Almost immediately, he yelped and he nearly jumped twenty feet. Or at least, he would have jumped if he had no restraints placed upon him. With his body stiffened up, he turned his head in the direction that hand went and let out a low, soft growl. The scent was even stronger. But still, he could not recognize it completely. He knew he should recognize this smell, but there was just something that...

And those fingers that grazed him...they didn’t feel like any ordinary fingers. There was something....unique about them. So...feathery...? Was it Sandra? No, it couldn’t be. This felt too long to be hers, and much softer than he knew Sandra’s would be. So...what could it be then? It almost felt like a...like a....

Wing...?

“I see you are awake now. That is good. I was getting a little tired of waiting.”

Almost immediately, Dr. Gelcro stiffened up at that voice. Even if it was spoken in a tone he was not used to, there was no mistaking who this voice belonged to. But he just...couldn’t believe it. No, he would not believe it. This had to be some kind of trick or lie. It couldn’t be that...

“I can see the look on your face. I can see how startled you are. You do not want to believe, do you? How could I do something like this? Am I right? I’m sure as heck I am. I saw you twitch there...”

Dr. Gelcro flashed his teeth. Despite how convincing the voice sounded, he still refused to believe that it was him. He knew this guy for many years. Never before had he ever done anything remotely like this, or even hint that he was capable of such an atrocity. There was just...no way that this could be true. He had to be imagining it, or at the very least, he was being tricked. His captor was just trying to confuse him, torture him mentally and get inside of his head. He was not going to let that happen.

The individual who had come in started to chuckle. The dog-like zoner’s blood immediately ran cold when he heard how similar that laughter was. So similar to...his... only colder, more chilly, as if someone else had spoken.

“It hurts me to see you like this. So full of denial.. Maybe if the blindfold wasn’t on, you would be able to see more clearly...”

Dr. Gelcro let out a low growl when he felt the fingers mess around his head, reaching towards the back of his head to undo the knot that held his blindfold in place. He opened his jaws and attempted to snap at the hands touching him. He was not quick enough and the hands released him and he could hear his captor give a sharp, surprised gasp as they moved back. Dr. Gelcro’s jaws slammed shut tightly, and it felt as if he had barely missed his captor. A shame they weren’t just an inch closer..

“Whoa there..! No need to get so feisty! Here, maybe this will help...”

Dr. Gelcro was about to give this individual the verbal smackdown that they deserved. But he was quickly interrupted before he had that chance when he felt something being pushed onto his muzzle. Something cool and leathery. Then he could feel straps being hooked behind his head, securing it tightly.

Dr. Gelcro twitched the muscles in his head, feeling something moving along his muzzle. He turned his head left and right, trying to get a feel for it. There was something strapped around there. It did not prevent him from closing his mouth, but there was still a restriction. Something keeping his mouth from opening up too far. And his nose was pushing up against some kind of a mesh. It took him a few seconds to realize that it was a muzzle.

“There, that should keep you from biting. Now let me continue...”

Dr. Gelcro lowered his ears and let out a low growl. He attempted to bite again. The muzzle prevented him from getting too far. He could feel it push up against something, pushing on his own mouth, keeping him from successfully landing a bite. He tried again and again, but each time, he had very little luck. Despite his frustrations, or perhaps due to them, he continued to let out a series of low growls at his captor, even if it did nothing to stop them.

He could feel those fingers messing around with his blindfold. He gritted his teeth as he felt a slight pinch, and then there was pressure relief as the cloth was untied. He kept his eyes shut even when the cloth was removed completely.

“Come on.. Open your eyes...”

The husky doctor zoner just hissed, baring his teeth a little, and doing nothing to open his eyes. He kept them shut. There was no way that he was going to do what they wanted. Just to be defiant, he would keep his eyes closed. If it irritated his captor, then good. He wanted them to be irritated. He...

He let out a small yelp and turned his head to the side when he felt some kind of light being shined on his face. He could feel some kind of heat burning against his eyes in the process and he couldn’t help but hiss as it kept on being shined on his face. Even if he turned his head away, the light was shifted and he kept on having to move as far as he could. It soon got ot the point where he could not turn his head any further and he could feel a neck ache forming in addition to the eye pain that spread across his face.

“Look at me.”

Dr. Gelcro still kept his eyes shut. Even if the light was hurting his eyes through his shut lids, he would not open his eyes. No, he would not give his captor the satisfaction of that. Even if it was going to be difficult, he kept his eyes shut as tightly as possible.

But his captor had other plans. Dr. Gelcro hissed as he felt one unusually soft hand grab onto his neck to keep his head back while the other pushed up against his face. Some of the fingers held his head in place while a couple of thin, soft fingers, or whatever they were, worked around his left eye. He tried to fight back against it, but the fingers, despite their seemingly frail shape, were relentless. They continued pushing against his eyelids, slowly forcing them open in a pretty painful fashion.

His vision was blurry at first. The stretching of his eyelids caused his vision to almost be smeared in a way. He struggled to blink, though his captor’s attempt to keep them open prevented this. His vision did eventually clear, however, and his eyes began to dart left and right, taking in the sight of what was around him.

The very first thing that he noticed was the room was in fact quite large. But also...what was the word he’d use to describe this? Medieval? Yeah, almost medieval-like in appearance. Dungeon structure with stones stacked all around, forming the walls, though still mixed in with concrete to make it more secure. He also could see torches on the wall, providing most of the light in here. The light was dull yet still allowed him to see some of the more specific details of this room.

And he wished he didn’t see it.

He could see bloodied chains on the walls. Cuffs where people must have been previously. He could see a few small blood stains on the walls and ground. Looking left and right, he became painfully aware of the torture machines that were present in several parts of this large room. That was why it was so big, it was to accomodate for all these machines...

And this thing he was hooked to... Looking down, he could see that he, too, had been strapped to a torture machine. From the looks of it, he was hooked to some kind of stretching machine. His heart skipped several beats at this realization, and he sucked in a shaky breath, licking his lips nervously. Even before his captor spoke again, he already had a good idea of exactly what his captor planned to do with him.

Then he froze upon seeing a set of feet. A set of very familiar feet. He could see the bird-like appendages, the claw tips, and how it all stretched upward into a leg and that traveled up further to a feathered body and...

Dr. Gelcro couldn’t take his eyes off of his captor. He could not turn his eyes away no matter how much he wanted to. His mouth dropped open, horror sweeping through his body. No...it couldn’t be possible...But despite wanting to deny it so badly, there was just...nothing that could change what he was seeing. Nothing that could prevent him from seeing the cold, harsh truth right before his very eyes.

His captor chortled darkly, a smile spreading across his pointed beak. “I take it you are surprised...?”

“B-But...” Dr. Gelcro stammered. “D-Dr. Crobat.. H-How can you... How could you have...”

Dr. Crobat threw his head back and gave an uncharacteristic dark laughter. It was enough to send dark chills through Dr. Gelcro’s body and he couldn’t help but shudder. Dr. Crobot soon straightened himself and he stared directly at Dr. Gelcro. “You really hadn’t figured it out? Oh you poor little thing...” Dr. Gelcro leaned himself forward, tilting his head to one side. “Perhaps I could get you something to help you jog your memory?”

“Memory?! B-But..there’s no memory of this! I don’t recall you ever...” Dr. Gelcro struggled against his restraints. But no matter how hard he tried to pull, they only seemed to tighten further. “Just let me go now!”

Dr. Crobot chuckled and shook his head. “I’m afraid I can’t do that. I’m afraid that you have a little...date...”

Upon saying that, Dr. Crobat began to make his way over towards what appeared to be some kind of lever. Dr. Gelcro stared at it nervously, licking his lips slowly. Just what was Dr. Crobat up to? He... He wouldn’t try to...would he...?

Then he remembered what Dr. Crobat had done ot him so far. Knocked him out. Brought him here. Immobilized him to this torture machine. All evidence pointed in that direction. Yet at the same time, Dr. Gelcro couldn’t help but feel...a pit of denial in his stomach. A part of him hoped that this was all just some kind of bad dream. That at any moment he was going to wake up and...

He was swiftly broken out of that sense of hope when Dr. Crobat started to yank the lever back. There was a crank of some kind of wheel, and Dr. Gelcro could feel his limbs start to be stretched ever so slowly.

“Wh-Why are you doing this?!” Dr. Gelcro called out, horror twisting around his heart. “I-I thought we were friends!”

“Oh don’t misunderstand. We still are...” Dr. Crobat placed his hand agains thimself, giving him a dark sneer. “..I just can’t have you get in the way of...progress.”

“Progress?!” Dr. Gelcro shouted in shock.

“Yes. You see...” Dr. Crobat moved his hand towards him in gesture. “...there’s some...big things coming...and you are not invited.” Dr. Crobat folded his arms behind his back and leaned towards him. “That is all you need to know, my ‘dear’ friend...”

Dr. Gelcro stared in horror, his eyes unable to move away from the twisted from that had been his friend. He looked deep into his eyes, trying to find any sign of his old friend anywhere in there. A part of him hoped he wouldn’t find anything; he didn’t want to think that this was his friend. Yet at the same time, he knew this to be the case.

But.. Dr. Crobat wouldn’t ever do something like this on purpose. He was being put up to this, wasn’t he? Yeah there was no other explaination. Nothing else that would make sense. Something had happened to Dr. Crobat. And it was up to him to figure out what that was. He just hoped he could figure it out before it was too late for him...and for whoever else was being targeted.


	25. New Feelings

Wait! You can't even see my side. Why play yourself out that way? Why you and me always hate? Wait! Weren't you my friend?  
-Lost, Korn

sss

“Did you find anything yet?” Rudy asked.

Mint shook his head. “Nothing useful, anyway. All this stuff, we either already know, or it’s not going to help us.”

“Well keep looking! You’re bound to find something in there!” Rudy called out to him.

“Meanwhile, Rudy and I are going to check these other books.” Penny said as she held a book in her hands. “It seems like these are all diaries of Skrawl. If we all look, I am sure that, sooner or later, one of us is going to find something useful.”

Mint nodded his head at this before turning his attention back to the book that he cradled in his arms. A part of him did feel off about doing this. A part of him couldn’t believe that he was even participating in this. But at the same time, he knew it was for a good cause.

Penny had taken a short while to convince them. Eventually, both he and Rudy agreed that it was the best course of action to take. Skrawl might have something written in here that could help them. A map of some kind, or even a secret that they could use to help themselves get out of here. Just...something.

So far, though, he hadn’t really found anything of interest. He did look through multiple entries of the diary entries. Or journal entries, whichever turm that jellybean thought to use. Just like he had imagined, most of them were about plans, ones that he was thinking of and ones that he had failed at. Several of the pages were scribbled out, leading Mint to believe that Skrawl had gotten so angry about what had happened that he just...wanted to erase the pages, but was too angry to think to rip them out so he crossed them out. Wait, that didn’t make much sense...though that was still what it looked like.

He pushed the thought aside for now as he kept on flipping through the pages, his eyes scanning along them, reading the lines as quickly as he could. Even though he hadn’t found anything worthwhile yet, he was bound to find something sooner or later. He just needed to keep looking.

Mint immediately froze when he came across one particular page. He licked his lips slowly, feeling a dryness to them. Upon reading the words, he could tell that this entry was regarding himself. Skrawl had made a few entries on him and this was just one of many. Some were arrogant and others were bitter, and both of them were painful to read. Even in the ones where Skrawl praised Mint for being able to hold back Rudy and Penny, he knew it was just for selfish gain. There was absolutely nothing to be proud of in what he had done back then.

Mint forced himself to keep moving forward, flipping through more of the pages. It was difficult seeing those entries on himself, difficult to turn away from them. He did manage it on some level at least, and he was able to keep moving at a steady pace. He continued reading through this diary, hoping to find something that could help them.

So far, though, there was nothing. Just Skrawl complaining like a little kid when things don’t go his way. He hadn’t thought much on that, but that’s what Skrawl seems to act like most of the time. A little kid. The teen couldn’t help but give a bitter chuckle. It was funny how he had been eleven years old at the time and he had behaved rather disgustingly, and yet he still matured more than Skrawl ever had. Wasn’t Skrawl supposed to be an adult?

Well, that didn’t really matter right now anyway. He didn’t need to stand here and criticize Skrawl’s maturity levels. Instead, he refocused his attention on trying to find something that he and his friends could use to get out of here with, in some shape or form. Come on, Skrawl had a bunch of things written. Surely there must be something in here that could them. Something...anything...

Just then, as he was turning the page and going past yet another entry about his betrayal, something slipped out of the book. Mint took a step back and watched as it landed on the ground at his feet. He stared at it long and hard, wondering just what it could be. He looked over at where Rudy and Penny were. They were still busy looking through the books. They hadn’t heard the paper drop. Mint looked back at the paper and, after a few moments, he reached down and he grabbed onto the paper and lifted it up. He unfolded it quickly and looked at its contents.

His eyes immediately widened. He had expected to see words written on this thing, but instead he got something else entirely.

It was a map...

He could feel his mind spinning around in circles, excitement clutching at his chest. He and his friends were hoping to find a map, but they all thought, on some level, that it wasn’t going to be that likely. After all, why would Skrawl keep a map hidden away in his dairies? It didn’t make much sense.

So to find one... A part of Mint wondered if this map could be some kind of a fake. Or maybe someone else had made it and slipped it in here. Or Skrawl was just weird and did it himself. The hand writing on this thing did seem a little sloppy. Exactly the kind of writing that he’d expect from Skrawl. Well, regardless of who made the map, it was here, within his hands. Now the only question was..

...what next?

He knew the first thing that he needed to do. Turning his head over to Rudy and Penny, he immediately called them over. “Hey guys! Look at this!”

Rudy and Penny did not waste time and they rushed over towards the slightly older boy. Before they had time to say anything, Mint immediately showed them the map that he had found, stretching the unfolding paper so that they were able to see everything. The two teens’ eyes immediately widened in shock at this discovery.

“You..found a map?” Rudy whispered softly, his voice tinged with disbelief. “You actually found a map? A real map?”

Mint nodded his head. “Well, I can’t tell if this is fake or not...”

“It seems legit to me.” Penny spoke up as she gently gripped the bottom of the paper and stretched it out towards herself. “This does all look exactly what we’ve been through already. Like...here’s where we went up the cactus, and here’s where we had been captured by Sandra...”

Rudy and Mint followed Penny’s finger as she moved it along the paper, showing them exactly what she was talking about. The two boys looked at each other and then back at the map. Sure enough, Penny had been correct. All those markings did look exactly like they’d expect a map of the cactus and castle’s interiors to look like, based on what they themselves had seen.

“Okay so...now that we have a map...” Rudy narrowed his eyes. “...think we can find Snap?”

Mint stared at the map intently. Viewing it upside down like this was a little difficult. But he was able to work with it just fine and he scanned his eyes all around the map. “Hmm...I’m not sure. Do any of you remember which way she had taken him?”

Penny took a step closer and pressed her finger at a certain angle. “I recall she took him this way. So maybe Snap is somewhere in this part of the castle.” She drew a large circle around the castle. “Of course... that doesn’t really narrow things down all that much...”

“That is a lot of area to look...” Mint said in a soft tone. He knew that the castle, combined with this cactus, was multiple layered. Who know how long it would take to find Snap? Especially when they had no idea if Sandra even kept him on the same level or not...

“Well then we should start looking.” Rudy clutched his fist tightly. “The sooner we start looking for Snap, the better.”

Penny and Mint nodded their heads at this. They both knew that Rudy was right. Regardless of uncertainties, they still needed to act as quickly as they could. They needed to start finding Snap as soon as possible. But none of them knew how well Snap was doing right now. All they could do was hope that Snap was able to hang on long enough for them to come save him.

sss

Snap gritted his teeth as he glared at the kennel door in front of him. He formed fists with his hands, shaking them. This stupid door... It blocked his only way out of here. He had tried to punch it again and again, but it just...would not budge one bit.

But it really wasn’t the door that was the target of his anger. It was himself. He couldn’t stop beating himself up internally. How could he have been so stupid? How could he have agreed to...this? How could he have let Sandra win like that? Now because of his own stupidity, he was...trapped here. And he had no one to blame but himself.

True, this was all Sandra’s idea. She is the one who forced this decision upon him. But..he should have known better. He should have tried harder. He should have been able to resist... And look what happened. If only he had just tried a little harder, maybe he could have avoided this whole mess.

Snap placed his hands against the cage door. The bars were too close together for him to squeee his hand out. This fact irritated him; right before him, he could see the latch that held the door shut. If he could just squeeze his hand out, he’d no doubt be able to reach the latch and pull it open to let himself out. He lifted up a hand and he stared down at it. His eyes narrowed into slits. This was one of the few times where he was actually unhappy with the design that Rudy had given him. If only Rudy had designed him with less...bulbeous hands.

So far, he did not see any sign of Sandra. He did not hear her coming along. Maybe he could use this time to try to get away still. He didn’t doubt the door was locked, but...there had to be another way out of here, right? There had to be a way that he could escape from this place. Surely Sandra had some kind of ventilation system in this room, maybe on the ceiling or something. All he had to do was pile things up high and climb up to reach it.

But first, he had to figure a way out of this thing. The latch might be secured, but there was a chance that...maybe he could break it open or something. He just needed to hit it at the right angle with the right amount of force, and perhaps he’d be able to break it open. He just needed to find the weak point. The spot where, if hit with enough force, he’d be able to bust it open.

Gritting his teeth, Snap straightened himself up the best that he could. His body trembled a little from the emotion surging inside of him. He struggled to push aside his uncomfortable thoughts and focused on the door before him. He hunched his body and he kicked at the ground underneath his feet. Then, his eyes narrowed deeply, he charged forward.

When he got close enough, he shifted himself to the side and struck into the metal door with his shoulder. He ignored the wash of pain racing through him upon impact. He moved back a little and, after giving himself a couple moments to take in a breather or two, he charged again. His shoulder almost seemed to echo in pain as he struck it a second time. He repeated this process over and over again, ignoring the growing pain in his shoulder as he desperately tried to break the door down.

No matter how hard he tried, it just was not working. The latch on the door was secured too tightly and it absolutely refused to budge. Even when he tried striking from other angles, it still was not good enough. It was as if the door was glued into place, and the glue only got stronger the more that he struck out against it.

He refused to give up, however. He continued trying to break the door off its hinge. There had to be a way to weaken it. There had to be a way to make the latch open or break or something. He just needed to keep striking. Sooner or later, something had to give...right?

So far, nothing. No matter how hard he hit against the door, it did nothing to budge. It just stayed put, as if nothing had happened. And the kennel itself just wasn’t moving either. His body weight was not enough to shift things thing around. It was just so heavy. So there goes any plans on trying to tilt this thing over.

Not that such a thing would have helped. This door was the only exit. There were no other openings. No areas that he could try to pry apart. Even if there were, this material was quite tough and hard. How would he be able to tear the openings further when this kennel was so hard and thick that he would end up breaking his leg first before he could even create a dent in the thing? So far, it seemed the only way out was to break open the door. And he had no idea how he was going to do that.

He could feel his head spinning and aching. He really wanted to try to find a way out of here, but...how was he going to escape this place? If the only way out was this stupid door, and if he couldn’t even get out of the door because of the latch...

No, he couldn’t be fully trapped. There had to be a way out. There was always a way. He just...needed to think of this from a new angle. He needed to search more deeply. Look around and try to see if there was anything here he could use to get himself out. There had to be a way out of here. There just...had to be...

...but who was he kidding? He was utterly trapped in this place. At the moment, there was just..no way out. He didn’t want to give up. A part of him just wanted to keep going. But... oh, his head hurt so much from trying to think so hard. He clutched his head tightly, gritting his teeth. It took him several moments before he could even settle himself down and he leaned up against the wall as he tried to calm himself.

There was still a way out... He just hadn’t thought of it yet. For the time being, he just...needed to lay low for a while. Try to stay quiet and calm so that he could think of something. Sandra would slip up sooner or later. He just needed to wait until the right moment, and then take the first given opportunity to escape.

Speaking of Sandra, just...where was she...?

He hadn’t seen her since he had woken up. He hardly remembered what happened at first. It took him a while to realize what Sandra had done to him, and their little ‘deal’ prior. His stomach twisted for a moment as he recalled what Sandra had told him and the way she had acted. He was able to push that aside for the time being while he tried to figure out where she had gone.

He couldn’t really remember. He didn’t recall Sandra saying where she’d be or when she would be back. He just knew that she would be back at some point, and when she did...

Snap couldn’t help but shudder as he felt the stinging feelings return ten fold. He huddled against himself as he slid down to the ground. He held his knees against himself, resting his head on them. He wasn’t able to push back the feeling this time around and he couldn’t help but give a few shudders as he tried to warm himself up. Nothing he did seemed to work, and it felt as though the temperature around him dropped dramatically.

Just...what had he gotten himself into...? It wasn’t like Sandra had given him much of a choice, but still... He licked his lips nervously, feeling his heart twist in his chest. Things were bad enough before, but now....

It was still quite unnerving, the way that Sandra had been acting earlier. Not that he preferred being eaten alive. He could do very well without that. But...how could Sandra just..suddenly get attracted to him like that? Why did she kiss him out of the blue? Why did she pin him down and talk about wanting to keep him forever? Well, she already did want to do that before, but that time, when she spoke it, it felt as though there was...another meaning behind it. A different tone that he just barely detected.

Snap could feel his heart racing against his chest and he put his hand against it. He could feel each thump, and he noticed how it was getting a little faster as time went on. And it only got worse the more he thought about his present situation and Sandra’s sudden change in attitude. He just...what the hell was going on...?

There had to be a reason behind these newfound feelings she seemed to have for him. Or perhaps they weren’t new feelings, just another way for her to try to control him. Or maye there was even something else going on. He didn’t know what, but he...

He heard the sound of footsteps approaching just outside of the door. He immediately stiffened his body and he glared in the direction of the door, baring his teeth. He already knew who was coming. He could tell from how the claws tapped against the ground. He could see the shadow through the space in the door, and he noticed four points on something moving. A tail with sharp spikes on them, just like Sandra had...

Then the door opened up.

Sure enough, it was indeed Sandra. A little tired-looking and a bit worn, but still her nonetheless. She shut the door behind her and, no surprise, locked it up good and tight. She then moved further into the room. Snap growled softly as he waited for her to come over towards him.

But that’s not what she did. To his confusion, she had veered off to the side, getting out of his line of sight. Snap tilted his head in confusion, wondering just what Sandra was up to. He moved himself forward and pushed against the metal door keeping him in side. He kept flattening his face against the door as he tried to figure out where Sandra had gone.

He could only see enough to tell that she was standing off to the side. She seemed to be just...standing there and he couldn’t tell what she was doing. What was Sandra up to? What was she...

A few moments later, Sandra started to return. Snap immediately moved his head back and looked up at her, his eyes moving up and down as he noticed that something had changed about her. The marks..they were gone... Hadn’t Sandra come in with some cuts and such? Where did they go? He realized that Sandra must have healed herself.

Now that she no longer looked scrappy and didn’t seem to have any more diverting thoughts, Snap got her full on attention. That set of red eyes stared directly at him as she moved in towards the cage. He hunched his body down and gritted his teeth tightly, letting out low growls. This seemed to only amuse Sandra, noted by her chuckling, but Snap refused to let up. He was not going to allow her to get close to him without some sort of fight.

Sandra stopped in front of the cage door, her hands folding behind her back. Her tail swished slowly from side to side as she regarded the shivering, frightened, and angered zoner inside. “So...did you enjoy your name, my little sweetheart?”

Snap felt a cold shudder rush through his body at that disgusting comment. “Bite me!”

Sandra’s red eyes twinkled as she leaned herself back, placing her fingers against her lower jaw. “Oh, you’re one of those? Into the pain? I wouldn’t have guessed!”

Snap felt his face pale at this. Then he narrowed his eyes and gripped the bars tightly...or at least tried to. “Let me out of here, you backstabbing little...!”

“Me, a backstabber? Oh my, I think you got it all mixed up.” Sandra lowered her head slightly as her eyes narrowed. “As I recall, it was you who had forsaken my trust.” Snap just growled at this. Sandra gave a soft chuckle. “But don’t worry. I do think we can...mend it somehow. I am more than willing to give you another chance.”

Snap shuddered at the way that Sandra had said that. He cringed back further from the door, forming fists with his hands just like he did before. He did not appreciate the tone that she had given, and he couldn’t help but get a series of disturbing images through his skull. Each one was more horrendeous than the last. And he knew that Sandra would attempt at least one of them on him.

Sandra seemed to take notice of the look in his eyes and she tilted her head to one side. “I don’t see why you are so upset. I have given you...quite the opportunity...” She raised her hand up gesture. “You know that I would never back down from a promise. And when I told you that I promised that you wouldn’t regret the decision...I meant it.” She curled her fingers inward as she yanked her arm back. “You will never find a more...powerful loyalty than from me.”

His body shaking from emotion, Snap found himself yelling at Sandra before he could even hope to stop. “Fuck you! You’re the one who betrayed me! You made me suffer for weeks, making everyone think that I was a murderer! Why the hell should I trust you?!” He panted heavily after this statement, glaring directly into Sandra’s eyes, waiting for an answer.

Sandra stared at him blankly for several moments. It was hard to tell just what kind of emotion she was feeling right now. Was it disappointment? Anger? Amusement? Just...what was she thinking?

He soon got his answer when Sandra gave a smile. Not a friendly one at that. It was quite dark and twisted, and the sight of it made his heart skip several beats. He took a couple of steps back away from Sandra, his body hunching, his hands clasping against one another. He struggled to look brave, but he was not able to stop his eyes from widening.

Sandra motioned her hand towards herself and she gave a grin, her sharp teeth exposed. “Because I’m the only reason you’re still alive...”

Immediately, the superhero zoner froze where he stood. It almost felt as if even time itself had stopped. And all the while, he could not tear himself away from Sandra. It was like she had managed to grab him with invisible hands and was holding him in place. He couldn’t even think to struggle. The only thing that he could do was just stare at Sandra and really think about just what it is that she told him.

Despite wanting to deny it, he knew that she was right. She really was the only reason that he was still alive. She was the one who was going to ensure that he lived day to day after this. If his friends were unable to save him, and if he were to remain trapped in this kennel, then Sandra really would be the only one who could keep him alive.

And even without that, Sandra still had an influence over the fact that he was alive. She could easily kill him at any given moment. The only reason that he didn’t keel over was that Sandra wished it. He didn’t want to admit this, but he knew that it was true. The fact that Sandra was now tolerating him was the only reason he wasn’t dead...or at the very least, in a lot of pain.

Regardless of this, however, Snap still kept his body stiff, ready to fight. He glared daggers in the direction of the evil dragon, not allowing her out of his sight. Even as she paced back and forth, he still did not allow her out of his sight. He kept his teeth bared, and he felt the muscles in his legs tighten as if to prepare to launch himself at her, despite being blocked. He was not going to allow this zoner to catch him off guard. Not if he could help it.

He could feel the emotion swelling up inside of him and his body shook in rhythm to it. He tried to keep himself calm, but he just...found himself unable to. And before he knew it, he released his confusion in one short anger-tinged outburst.

“Just...what the fuck do you have planned for me?! Why are you doing this?! Why are you suddenly acting this way?! What is the purpose of all this?! Just...why?!”

Sandra tilted her head slowly to one side. “Oh my dear little child... You really want to know..?”

Snap nodded his head furiously. “Yes! I want to know!”

Sandra gave a few chuckles at this, her lips curled back into a dark grin. She took a few steps towards the cage, staring intently at Snap. “Okay then, my little Snacks.” Snap flinched at this. “Since you really want to know.. I will tell you. I think you will find it quite...interesting...”

And with that, Sandra began to explain.

sss

“I have spent years in that hell hole of a prison. Years in isolation. Years by myself, with no one around except for my caretakers. And even they only visited me when it was feeding time, not to interact with me. I was utteraly alone, Snap. So completely alone... My only company was my own thoughts. So I thought and I thought, replaying scenes over and over in my mind. Plotted and schemed, thought of all the things that I’d do if I got out. Really, it was all that I could do there. All that I was able to accomplish. But it wasn’t so bad; it was through this that I was able to plan ahead so well like this.”

Sandra paced from side to side as she spoke to Snap. Her eyes never left him. Either one or both were upon him, her mouth curling back into a dark grin. She made sure that he heard every word that she said.

“But you know... I did started to realize something. I was thinking a little too much about you. Not even dear Rudy got this much thought out of me. It was you, my dear little Snacks, that got the bulk of my attention. I was not really surprised by this, really. After all, you were the one who betrayed me the most. Rudy might be the promise breaker, but I was closer to you than him. Your betrayal of me hurt me more than Rudy’s promise breaking.”

“You were the one who betrayed me...” Snap growled.

Sandra lowered her ears slightly and shook her head sadly. “You don’t get it, do you?” She lifted her head up, staring at Snap with a downwards glance. “Do you have any idea how much it hurt me? To have you turn on me like that? I had been trying to remain a good friend to you. I had tried to give you many chances. You still turned against me.”

“Because you were killing people!”

Sandra decided to ignore that comment. No use arguing over that right now. Not like Snap was going to listen anyway. With a single dismissive wave of the hand, she looked to the side at nothing and said, “I kept on thinking about you more than the others...because out of all of you, I would have wanted to keep your friendship the most. Why do you think I gave you so many chances before? I wanted you to listen to reason, to listen to me. I never betrayed you. I only wish that you could have seen that.”

No surprise, Snap did not react very well to that. Sandra could feel a slight sting in her chest, old feelings from before returning as Snap ranted off at her. This time, she was able to handle them better, and she just stared at him with narrowed eyes. Snap was such a fool; she had gotten used to these responses.

Eventually Snap did settle down. She had allowed him to yell as much as he wanted to until he ran out of strength. Now she listened to him cough, watching as he heaved in and out quickly. The sight of it was almost amusing to her. A part of her found it hard to believe that anyone had that much to say against what she believed. She had always thought that everyone would side with her once she had told them everything. Oh how wrong she had been...

Snap’s long rant was nothing new. He did not bring up any further points. It was more just rehashing the same old stuff over and over, intermixed with a few insults here or there. Snap was reacting on pure emotion right now. Not logic. So naturally, his rant was nothing more than just emotional rambling rather than more logical, thoughtful speech.

It was only after Snap seemed to have settled down that Sandra started to continue. “Anyway, to get on with it, like I said, I was thinking a lot about you.” She leaned herself slightly to the side as she raised her hand up in gesture, her pacing having long since stopped. “...a little too much...” She formed a small fist with her hand and turned her head downwards towards the ground. Her eyes narrowed slightly. “I never realized how much I thought about you...until recently that is, when I really began to think about it.”

“....it was when you kissed me, wasn’t it...?” Snap’s voice was low and tentative.

Sandra nodded her head at this. “Oh yes. You see, that was...rather unplanned, really. When I saw you like that, something just...finally clicked in my mind. And that is when these new feelings arose, which...” She chuckled a little, staring down at Snap with a glinting, almost insane red eye. “..changed my plans for you. A little.”

Snap narrowed his eyes and his body tensed up. It looked almost cute, the way that he seemed to be preparing for a fight that he surely stood no chance in. A part of her was almost tempted to let him out just so he could try to take a swing at her.

But she digressed. Not wasn’t really the time for something like that. Maybe she would give Snap a chance later on. It probably would be a little bit of fun letting him try to get at her. And after she’s toyed with him that way, she could get ready for the....real fun...

“I really thought about it. How much I thought about you... and then I realized something.” Sandra took a step forward. This caused Snap to flinch and move back from her. “...I still want you, Snap. Despite the fact that you betrayed me so wholeheartedly... I still want you. On some level, I still want to keep you around. Not just as a food source, but...as a companion.”

Snap gave a visible shudder at this as his face contorted in disgust. “Y-You’re a...”

Sandra chuckled as she raised her hand up. “I know it’s...unconventional. But I am serious, Snacks.” She formed a small fist as she continued to stare at Snap, her tail swishing from side to side slowly. “I want you back. I want you to stay with me. I will inflict both pain and pleasure on you. You will be both my food source and my source of companionship. I will see to it that no one else harms you, and you will not be killed. I will make your experience with me...a rather unique one...”

Snap let out a low growl at this. His body quivered immensively, moving back away from her as his wide, white eyes refused to leave her. She could practically see his mind’s gears turning around as he struggled to process this information. She could tell that this was going to be a lot for him to swallow, and she could understand why.

After all, she had attempted to kill him before. In the back of her mind, she remembered how she had attacked him during the court after her ruling had been in place. She would admit, she had lost control over herself at this point. And she had knocked him down, tried to hurt him. If it hadn’t been for Jyker’s intervention, she probably would have killed Snap then and there. A part of her did feel relieved that she did not go through with it. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t be having this kind of moment with Snap.

But despite how afraid he was, despite how bizarre this situation had become, Sandra realized that she could use this to her advantage. Keeping Snap close to keep him from becoming tainted further, and she could start to...turn things around a little. Without his so called friends to interfere, maybe she could finally get Snap to see reason. She realized in that momet, it wasn’t just Rudy that she could retrain.

She could educate both Rudy and Snap. She could get them on her side. Two people with a high influence over ChalkZone. And with them convinced of her worldview, the rest would follow suit...

She wasn’t really sure how probable this was going to be. A part of her wondered just how far gone everyone was. It would be insanely difficult... Yet at the same time, if there was a chance to save this world, this would be a first good step to take. And if there was anyone that she felt was...unworthy, anyone that she did not think would ever see reason, she could just kill them off. She already had a plan for how to do that, and it involved Skrawl.

The thought of him immediately made her mouth corners spread slightly. She wondered how Skrawl was doing after she had her little ‘fun’ with him. He was back in his cage, secured good and tight. After what she had done to him, she doubted that he was going to have the energy or will to fight back for a while. It might have seemed like...an extreme thing to do, but hey it worked, didn’t it?

As for the four Beanie Boys, she had gotten them under her control now. One might think that her doing it so fast was an impossible feat. But when you have super healing powers, there was just so many possibilities. She didn’t even have to alter their memories; she wound up just messing with their amygdalas. A few tweaks here and there, and now those stupid zoners were too terrified to disobey an order. Right now, they were going after Rudy and his friends. She wondered how well they were doing with that.

“I-I’ll never be with you!”

Those words broke Sandra out of her train of thought. She stared blankly in Snap’s direction, raising an eyebrow at this. “Oh really now...?” She tilted her head to one side. “And what makes you so sure of that?”

“After what you did to me...” Snap growled through his gritted teeth. “...why the hell woud I ever consider being with you?!”

“Well, you did agree...” Sandra pointed out.

“Only because you forced me into it! B-But it won’t last! Y-You will see! I will get out!” Snap’s body shook with emotion as he shouted at Sandra. She detected a few emotions in there, including fear, anger, and sadness. “I will find a way out of here and I will reunite with my friends! I swear it!”

Sandra shook her head slowly. Judging from Snap’s emotional outburst, it was going to take some time to get Snap to settle down...at least the slower, more in depth way. She could speed things along, like she did with the Beanie Boys. But...no, she wanted to take her time with Snap. Move in at a slower pace. This way, she could be much more..thorough with him.

And sure, Snap could say that he was not going to remain with her. That was only emotion talking, however. He was just scared of her. Frightened... just like she wanted him to be. This would ensure that he was less likely to leave her. She just needed to properly utilize it, and find ways to stimulate Snap in a less...unpleasant manner. Give him a reason to want to stay that was not entirely rooted in fear. Complicate things a little. After all, a more affective means of controlling someone goes beyond just simple mind control.

“Oh you poor, naive little Snap...” Sandra cooed softly as she made her way even closer towards the cage. “You are so...”

“Get away from me! Don’t you dare touch me!” Shouted Snap as he moved even further away from the cage door. “I-I’m warning you...!”

Sandra simply chuckled at this as she continued getting ever closer to the frightened and shivering zoner. She then hooked a finger on the latch, flipping it open. She moved it open, putting her body in the way of the opening so that Snap could not try to escape. She made her towards Snap, making sure to keep using her body as a deterrent so he couldn’t attempt to get out.

Snap scrambled to get away from her. Despite his previous show of bravery, it was quite clear to her just how terrified of her that he truly was. He kept trying to move away, keep some distance between her and him. And as that space rapidly decreased the closer that she got, the more...antsy and desperate Snap seemed to get.

It eventually culminated to a point where Snap attempted to launch an attack against Sandra. A bold move, but still a rather foolish one. Sandra simply narrowed her eyes as she watched Snap rush over at her with his fist ready to strike. She waited until the right moment, and then she began to arch her feather fingers and twist them downward at an angle. The effect was almost immediate.

“Aaaahhh!” Snap screamed as he fell into the ground, clutching his side. “What are you doing?!”

“Such a foolish question... You know what I’m doing.” Sandra spoke softly as she calmly made her way over towards Snap, her tail swinging about. “Do not worry. I will not cause permanent damage. I just want to...discourage you from trying to get out. I take it you won’t try running out if your spleen is close to bursting, am I right?”

Snap looked up at her in horror at this statement. “B-But that would...”

Sandra grinned. “You know I have incredible healing capabilities, right? I could do so much to you..and so long as I heal you before death takes a hold, you will be fine. Case in point...”

Sandra twitched her hand back and as soon as she did, there was a loud cracking sound. Snap froze for a brief moment before he released a bloodcurdling scream and dropped to the ground. He clutched at his leg, where a dark red spot was forming. Snap let out a series of whimpers and cries as he struggled to cope with the immense pain. He looked up at her with wide eyes, silently asking her ‘why?’.

Sandra just sneered at this. “The pain of a broken leg is quite much, isn’t it? Would you like for the pain to end now? I can stop it, just as easily as I started it.” She took a step forward. “What do you say, Snap?”

The zoner, tears spilling out of his eyes, nodded his head slowly. “Y-Yes...please...just...” He sniffled. “M-Make it stop... Please...” Tears flowed down his cheeks, any ounce of dignity that he had gone, his mind consumed with pain. “I-I can’t take it...Just make it stop... Please...m-make it go away..”

Sandra lifted her head up slightly. “As you wish, my dear sweetie.” Then, with another flick of the wrist or two, the damage she had caused to Snap’s leg reversed. In a matter of seconds, the injury had completely healed with no sign of breakage or bruising. It was like nothing had even happened. “There, do you feel better now?”

Snap didn’t bother to answer. He just laid on the ground, curled up in a small ball. His body quaked as he whimpered softly. Even with the pain gone, in some ways, he could still feel it. All he could do was just...stare at her in fear, his hand still clutching his leg where the pain had previously radiated. Another hand rubbed his side, which she was still messing with a little. She stopped that, but even he kept laying down as if she was still tearing him from the inside out.

Sandra watched this with narrowed eyes. She watched him with narrowed eyes, waiting to see what he would do next. So far, he just laid there, whimpering and crying, his body still shaking like a leaf. When it was clear that Snap was not going to get up, Sandra let out a soft sigh and she began to stride her way towards him.

This time, Snap did not try to run off. He did stare at her fearfully and he did cringe. But any attempt of getting away, he did not make. Even though his leg was fully healed and he would have no trouble getting up and running, it was as if his mind still thought he was in pain, still thought that the leg was busted, and really, truly believed that there was no way out. Sandra couldn’t help but give a soft, inward smile at this. It certainly made it easier for her to get close to him this time.

And now he stood over him, staring down at his shivering form. Her red eyes bored through his frightened ones. With a grin exposing her sharp teeth, she lowered herself towards Snap and rested herself on top of him, using her body as a sort of cover for him. She felt their bodies touching each other as she settled down, making sure that she did not put too much weight on his shivering form.

“Oh don’t cry, little Snacks. It will be all right.”

Sandra looped her arms around Snap to pull him into a sort of embrace. Her tail curled inwards, pressing lightly against his body, her tail spikes pointed harmlessly in the opposite direction. She lowered her head and she pressed it against Snap’s.

“I will keep you safe. No one else will try to harm you.” Sandra could hear Snap let out a low whimper at that. She grinned. “And don’t you worry. I promise I will help you see the light eventually.” She lifted her head and stared down at him. “Everything will become clear to you. I promise.” She lowered her head once more and pressed her cheek firmly against Snap’s, nuzzling him. “Do not worry...”

Snap did not respond with anything except for a whimper and cringing. Sandra kept her arms looped around him, making sure he could not escape. She curled her tail around his body as she kept her face pressed against his. She enjoyed the feeling of power and control that this brought to her.

Oh yes, Snap will not escape her this time...


	26. Rebuttal

Deep into you, they spread their roots!  
-Minus The Machine, 10 Years

sss

Dr. Gelcro struggled against the cuffs that held him down. His body twisted from one side to the other frantically. He had been doing this for a while, but with all the adrenaline pumping through him, he didn’t feel the least bit tired.

His wide eyes stared over at Dr. Crobat. The bird zoner whom he had considered his best friend for years... He had no idea what had happened to him. Something was seriously wrong here. Dr. Crobat wouldn’t do something like this. So..what was driving him to do something this cruel to him? What had happened to his best friend...?

He grunted, his eyes closing tightly and his teeth gritting, as he felt his limbs start to stretch beyond what they were supposed to do. Still the crank turned, the wheels moving about, and, with a loud constant squeaking sound, the machine continued to stretch his limbs away from his body. He struggled to pull them back, trying to prevent them from being stretched too far out. But he was no match for the machine and he continued to be stretched in this manner.

The machine was pulling painfully slow as well. Dr. Crobat was trying to make this as slow and torturous as possible. He didn’t want his limbs ripped off right away. No, he wanted to take his time. Savor this. Make him really plead for mercy, or whatever it was that he was hoping for. It had been several minutes and only just now was the dog-like zoner starting to feel the pain.

He kept his eyes closed as a few tears started to move down his face. He could feel the dull pain spreading throughout his body, concentrating on the joints where they were connected to his sockets. This dull pain only continued to grow gradually worse, spreading through his body, radiating outward and almost feeling as though it was converging at the center of his underside. His tail, which hadn’t been tied, swished from side to side rapidly as the pain continued to grow steadily sharper, steadily worse.

“I admit, I didn’t think this would be so much fun...”

Dr. Gelcro turned his still muzzled face in the direction of Dr. Crobat. The bird-like zoner hadn’t moved from his spot. His feather fingers were pressed against one another, tapping lightly. His head tilted to one side, his eyes narrowing. A grin was spread across his toothless beak.

“Watching you struggle so hard to get away... It is almost adorable.” Dr. Crobat rubbed his hard chin thoughtfully. “I almost wonder what would have happend if I had tried the water torture on you instead.”

Dr. Gelcro bared his teeth at the bird-like zoner.

Dr. Crobat chuckled at this. “Well, it doesn’t matter anyway.” He folded his arms against himself as his body leaned towards the nearest well. “You aren’t really going anywhere. So why should I care about what method is being used on you? So long that it works...” He raised up a wing-like hand in gesture. “..though I truly do thing that this was the more...entertaining option...”

“Let me go!” Howled Dr. Gelcro. He struggled against his binds. This only seemed to make the machine tug harder, and he winced at the increasing pain.

“Go on and struggle, my old friend.” Dr. Crobat tilted his head slightly to one side. “I really do enjoy watching how you keep trying to escape your fate...”

Dr. Gelcro felt his heart sting at that comment. It was bad enough to hear it at all, but to have it come from someone he had called a friend... That just made it hurt ten times worse. If he could just free one of his arms, he would be clutching his hand against his hurting chest right about now.

He still had no idea what could have happened to Dr. Crobat. So far, the bird zoner hadn’t attempted to divulge anything that he could use to pinpoint the cause. While the possibility that Dr. Crobat really had been an enemy this whole time was valid, he just...didn’t want to believe it. He simply refused to believe that this was the case. There had to be something more. Something else had to be going on. Something just...

His thoughts were interrupted when he felt the machine tug at his arm even harder, sending a shockwave of pain through his body. He couldn’t stop himself from pulling his head back and crying out, his mouth open as far as it could go with the muzzle on him.

“It sounds like the machine is finally getting into the real dirty work, eh?” Dr. Crobat took a few steps towards the torture machine. His eyes moved up and down, surveying the machine, concentrating mostly on the cuffs that held down the dog’s arms and legs, watching as they were continued to be stretched taut. “I imagine the machine is starting to pull on your very ligaments and tendons right now.”

Dr. Gelcro felt his heart skip a beat at this comment. Shutting his eyes, he struggled to fight against the binds further. He yanked them back as hard as he could, hoping to dislodge them in some shape or form. But just like before, he was having no luck whatsoever. The machine just...continued to real his arms and legs apart.

Dr. Crobat watched as Dr. Gelcro started to give a few whimpers of pain. His expression softened up slightly, looking almost concerned. But there was still a tinge of something there that showed that this was not as genuine as it appeared. “But don’t worry. Once the ligaments and tendons give away, the limbs will come off more easily. It will be a rough going, but you’ll get there. Everything will be fine.”

Dr. Gelcro’s ears lowered at this. His lips curled back into a snarl and he let out a loud roar at Dr. Crobat. The emotion-filled screech echoed throughout the room. But it did not have much of an effect on the bird zoner, who just continued to stare at him with a dark smile on his face. Dr. Gelcro released another one, but that one rapidly devolved into low whimpering and sobbing.

“Wh-Why are you doing this...?” Dr. Gelcro finally said. His eyes remained shut, his vision getting too blurry. “What have I d-d-done to deserve this?”

Dr. Crobat spread his wing hands outward. “Not much, really. It’s just... Well sorry, but this is just how things have to go.” He lowered his wings to his side. He stared down at Dr. Gelcro with a slightly narrowed expression. “You will just be in the way if something is not done.” He tilted his head to one side. “It is nothing personal. It is only business. You understand, right?”

Dr. Gelcro bared his teeth at this. He thought about responding to that. Every ounce of him wanted to shout at the bird zoner. He wanted to release his full emotions on him, give him all his fury...yet he could not bring himself to do so. He felt too mentally exhausted, his previous shouting having drained whatever energy that he had left. All he could do right now was just glare at the zoner before him, growling softly as though that was going to make Dr. Crobat release him.

His mind swam with several thoughts as he continued to try to make sense of what was happening to him. Just...why was Dr. Crobat doing this to him? Why was he hurting him? What could have happened?

He knew he had already asked himself this over and over again, but...he just couldn’t help it. He really needed to know what was going on. He needed to know why Dr. Crobat was doing this. Despite the fact that his mind was aching terribly, the questions still crowded up his mind, threatening to burst it wide open.

“Well I’m going to head out to grab something to eat.” Dr. Crobat commented in a casual tone of voice. He waved his hand in front of his mouth, looking almost a little tired, though it was hard to say what he was actually feeling. “I think you will be good for while I’m gone, right? You won’t try to escape?” Dr. Gelcro shot a glare at him, but said nothing. This was enough to make Dr. Crobat’s eyes twinkle. “I thought so. I knew I coud count on you.”

The bird-like zoner walked over towards the nearby door. Dr. Gelcro’s eyes never left him, watching as he continued to make his way over and soon stood by the door. He stopped there, staring at the door for a few moments with a wing hand on the door. Then he turned his head and looked over behind him, staring directly at Dr. Gelcro.

The way that he looked at him... Dr. Gelcro could not stop himself from shuddering. He could feel the cold shiver racing through his body and he felt like the air around him was freezing. Dr. Crobat’s eyes were just..cold. So freezing cold... It was like the very sight of them was enough to freeze water solid, to freeze anyone in their place. And as he kept on staring, he noticed something seemed to...flicker about them.

It was in that moment that Dr. Gelcro started to realize something. He hadn’t thought of it before, and now, realizing this, he couldn’t believe that he didn’t earlier. He would have slapped himself in the face if he could have.

Could this be related to...the Signal...?

The very thought of it rammed him with full force and he thought that his heart had stopped beating, almost. The idea was just....he didn’t want to fathom it. He was certain that Sandra’s machine was destroyed. But...he recalled what some zoners looked like while under the influence. And the look that Dr. Crobat was giving right now, that aura that he could almost sense... It was very similar to what he recalled of the Signal.

A part of him felt relief. If it was the Signal, or something like it, doing the work, then Dr. Crobat really hadn’t betrayed him after all. He was simply being controlled in some manner. Influenced on a level that he could not stop. In the end, Dr. Crobat was as much of a victim of this situation as he was.

But at the same time, this news brought him a sense of horror. He couldn’t help but try to clutch his chest despite his arms still being stretched outward. If Dr. Crobat was actually being influenced by the Signal, and if Sandra’s machine had been taken down, that meant that....that someone had to have recreated the machine. Someone was using the Signal for their own purposes. Someone who isn’t Sandra...

Dr. Crobat noticed the expression on his face and gave a dark smile. “Now, you be a good little puppy. Let the machine do its work and then it will all be over.” With that, the bird zoner turned and left the room, leaving Dr. Gelcro trapped on the stretching chair.

Almost immediately, Dr. Gelcro released a series of loud, panicked howls as he struggled to get himself free. The pain in his joints had only gotten worse, and it intermixed with the chilling horror on his mind. He could feel his heart racing against his chest, threatening to burst out at any given moment. He tossed and he turned his head about, letting out a series of increasingly loud and pain-filled cries, newfound adrenaline racing through his body.

He had to get out of here. He had to try to free himself. If he didn’t figure out a way to get himself out of this contraption, then.. He didn’t want to think of what would happen.

But...how was he going to get free? His arms were strapped good and tight and the machine kept on moving his limbs outward. The rate almost seemed to be quickened by his own actions. The more that he struggled, the harder the machine began to pull. He couldn’t help but grit his teeth tightly, biting his own tongue to try not to scream as the pain got worse. He failed quickly and soon another cry was released.

But it wasn’t just horror that dominated his mind. Worry, strong and true, also began to spread throughout his mind, clinging tightly to him and refusing to let go. He shut his eyes tightly as he tried to cop with the sharp pain of apprehension.

What was he going to do about Dr. Crobat? If he was truly being controlled... And why wasn’t he affected? Or maybe he was and he just didn’t realize it yet. The situation seemed to take a continuous dark turn and the more that he struggled, the more terrified he became. This made him struggle even harder, yanking back his already aching limbs.

But the machine was just too strong... No matter how hard he struggled, he couldn’t seem to get himself free. And as the machine continued to tug, he let out a yelp when he felt something start to break inside. He realized, in horror, at the machine was starting to snap his limbs off. It felt as though one of his ligaments had started to break off. And soon he could feel more of them, and tendons, start to lose their grip as well, giving up the fight against the machine to keep the limbs on his body.

Dr. Gelcro shut his eyes and let out a few soft sniffles as the burning pain spread throughout his joints, making it feel as though he had been lit on fire. He couldn’t stop the tears from flowing, whimpers escaping his throat. He continued to fight as best as he could, but as his final bouts of adrenaline began to wear off, his movements started to die down.

It didn’t seem like he was going to get out of here... That seemed like an impossibility now.. This realization spread throughout his mind, making him shudder. The idea of dying here, without being able to save Dr. Crobat from being used, without being able to warn anyone of what was going on... That hurt him more than this machine’s actions. He wanted to keep trying to get out of here. There just...had to be a way that...

...but who was he kidding? He had already tried everything and still he could not get away. His attempts were failing utterly and he had lost even more of his strength. The pain was starting to dominate his mind more, making it hard for him to even think of a way to get out of here.

This...this really was it, wasn’t it? He was going to die here. Alone, afraid, in pain, seemingly betrayed by the one that he had trusted the most. No one was going to know where he was or what happened to him. Surely Dr. Crobat would see to that. Or come up with some kind of lie or something. And there was nothing that he himself could do about it.

And the person involved with what was happening to Dr. Crobat will get away with this, and be able to continue attacking other innocent people...

At this horrific realization, Dr. Gelcro felt a sea of emotions strike through him. He was almost glad that he was strapped to a table, otherwise he would be falling flat onto his face at this point. This mild relief was soon overcome with horror, and he couldn’t stop himself from letting out a choked sob. All those people that could be hurt...and there wasn’t a fucking thing that he could do about it...

He was so useless. He was worthless. He meant nothing to anyone right now. He was just a poor soul trapped in here, tied to this machine. In a matter of moments, his limbs were going to be ripped off utterly. He would have a sea of blood around him and he would slowly die. And no one would know or even care. He was just...so utterly alone...

Suddenly, without warning, there was a loud bang at the door. He swiveled his head over to see what the heck was going on. To his utter shock, he could see that there was already a split on the door from something ramming into it. Then there was another blow, and another. He could hear some kind of growl on the other side. A very familiar growl...

Before the dog-like zoner realized what was going on, the door was suddenly torn off its hinges as something massive and green rammed through it. The door went flying off to the side and crashed against another of the machines. It broke apart upon impact.

Dr. Gelcro blinked his eyes several times, wondering if he was seeing things. He shut them tightly and shook his head for a moment, and then looked back out. The image did not change and he could feel his heart fluttering slightly. “R-Ripclaw...?”

The massive green beast, which he had instantly recognized as Mint’s female utahraptor, turned her head to face him, her large body slowly moving along to match up with her head. Her eyes seemed to almost twinkle upon seeing him, instantly recognizing him. The dinosaur took a few steps forward before stopping. Her head bobbed up and down as she stared at the machine, letting out a loud, uncertain hiss at it.

“G-Get me out of here!” Dr. Gelcro cried out to her. He didn’t know how well she understood commands. But Mint did seem to be able to give her orders, so...perhaps it was possible that she’d understand that he wanted. “Please! Destroy the restraints! Before they...” He let out a scream of pain.

Almost immediately, Ripclaw sprung into action. Her massive form rushed over to where he was, her feet pattering against the ground with each stride. It took her only a few seconds to reach where the dog zoner was. She paused in front of the machine, looking at it up and down. She moved her neck rather flexibly around like she were some sort of large bird, her eyes focusing intently on where the metal cuffs were located. She stood there for several seconds, listening to the dog zoner scream in pain, before she finally took action.

She started to bite down on one of the metal cuffs. Her teeth clanged loudly as she struggled to get a good grip on it. She gnawed and she chewed on it, doing whatever she could to try to break it open. But it soon became clear that this was not going to work.

Dr. Gelcro’s eyes widened as he felt something nearly snap inside of him. The bout of pain that this brought was enough to make him scream. The machine continued to turn its wheel, getting ever closer to fully ripping his limbs off. His vision went blurry and it became difficult for him to see anything clearly. He looked up at Ripclaw for a moment before the pain caused him to slam his head against the back of the machine, his body nearly going limp.

Just then, he heard a loud screech. He lifted his head up weakly and he looked over to see that Ripclaw had grabbed onto the lever in her jaws. She clenched her jaws shut tightly around it, letting out low growls. Her body was arched, tail raised up, all stiffened. Then, tightening her jaws, she started to tug it backwards, taking slow, steady step after slow, steady step. Her foot talons scraped along the ground as she nearly lost her hold, but soon, she was able to pull it back, and there was a loud click that went into place.

Then the machine just...stopped. Much to Dr. Gelcro’s relief, it just stopped, screeching to a halt. His arms and legs were still stretched and he was still in pain. But at least he wasn’t being stretched any further anymore. He took in several shaky breaths as he realized this, and then he managed to release a loud, low sigh.

When he found his heart rate returning to something close to normal, he turned his attention to Ripclaw. “Can you...get these off of me?” He asked tentatively. He had no idea if Ripclaw could do anything. But it was worth a try at the very least, right? “Please... I have to get out of here. Something is...” He seethed. “Something is wrong with Dr. Crobat...”

Ripclaw tilted her head from one side to the other. Her expression was mostly blank, though he thought he could detect...something in those eyes. Lowering her body a little, she began to make her way over slowly. Her large head hovered over one of the metal cuffs. She tilted her head this way and that, releasing a series of soft, uncertain cooing. Then she lowered her head and she gripped onto the metal cuff. Just like before, she began to tug as hard as she could.

So far, she was having just as much luck as before. That is to say, not a whole lot. But she was relentless and she refused to give up. She continued to bite at the thing and continued to pull her head back, doing whatever she could to try to rip the thing out of the strong bolts that held it down. She continued to gnaw and bit at the thing, continued to pull her head back, her neck muscles stiffening as he tried to get the thing off.

Then, with one hard yank, the dinosaur’s body went backwards, her feet slipping underneath her as she went. Her body rammed into the ground and there was a loud clang. It didn’t take long for Dr. Gelcro to realize what it was.

Ripclaw had managed to remove one of the cuffs.

With one of his arms now suddenly free, the first thing that he did was immediately yank it back. He felt a wave of relief as his ligaments and tendons were able to relax, his joint returning to its original position. He spent a couple of moments just relaxing like this, noting how great his arm felt. He never thought that it would feel this good.

He then turned his body a little so that he could work on the other hand cuff. His fingers fumbled through it and it took him a while. But eventually, he was able to unhook it. The metal cuff sprung upwards and he yanked his other arm to himself, rubbing them carefully with his hands, feeling how sore his muscles were. Then he lifted himself up and began to work on the cuffs holding his legs. As soon as he was finished, he felt a momentary splash of relief before he slid down, falling off the platform.

He pushed himself up from the ground, letting out a series of coughs. He could feel the dinosaur’s head pushing against him, letting him use her as a means of keeping himself balanced. He clung onto her tightly, his fingers gripping at her feathers. With his teeth bared, he started to pull himself up to his feet. After a little bit of slipping and sliding, he was soon standing up completely, feeling a swirling rush go through his head.

A part of him wanted to spend a little longer trying to figure out just what he should do. He wanted to think about how to approach the situation with Dr. Gelcro and maybe be able to come up with some sort of plan. But he knew that there was little time for that. He needed to take action before it was too late. Dr. Crobat couldn’t have gotten far. If he left now, he should bea ble to catch him.

He climbed on top of the green dinosaur. He adjusted himself and, once he found a comfortable position, he looped one arm around her neck and used the other to point forward. “Go find Dr. Crobat!”

As soon as he issued that command, Ripclaw let out a screech, pulled her head back for a moment as her body tensed up. Then she bolted forward, running across the ground as her feet pounded against it heavily. Dr. Gelcro had no idea if they would find the bird zoner in time. But...they had to try. Before something terrible happened.

sss

Rudy gave a small grunt of pain as he hit his head against the low ceiling. He cringed for a moment, letting out a soft growl as he rubbed his head a little. He wondered just why Skrawl would design tunnels with such low roofs. It’s not like it would have benefited him any. Maybe they were for the Beanie Boys? At the moment, he couldn’t bring himself to care too much about that.

He and the others continued to move along through the small tunnel. It had been the first one that they found, and it seemed to be leading them in the right direction. It was difficult to say, as it was pretty dark in here. This made it difficult to tell if they were going the right way or not.

Still, they pressed on, knowing that they would not be able to find their friend laying down like this. None of them knew if Snap was okay, something that made their hearts twist. But that only made them want to find Snap faster. They needed to figure out where Sandra had put him and pull him out of there before Sandra could...

Rudy’s mind went back to what happened with Courtney. The image of her skeleton was still burned deeply into his mind. It was something that he was never going to forget, no matter what he tried. He looked over at Penny, staring at her sadly. Though Penny was able to focus on the task at hand, he knew that she was still suffering from what she had seen. None of them knew just how that had happened to Courtney. But they were all determined to make sure that something similar did not happen to Snap.

He just...hoped that Snap could hang on. He believed in him. He believed that Snap would truly be able to hang on and resist the best that he could. He trusted that Snap would hang in there for them when they came, and resist whatever Sandra tried to do with him. He was a tough little guy. He...he could hold on.

At least, he hoped that he could.

Rudy could not help but remember momentarily what Sandra tried to do to Snap before. It was an unpleasant memory. Something that he would rather forget. But he just... How could he forget it? It was impossible. How could anyone forget how Sandra had partially eaten Snap...? And how she had tried to rip him open during the trial?

Rudy shook his head and struggled to focus on the task at hand. He didn’t want to let himself become too distracted by the emotional turmoil still raging on deep inside of him. He needed to keep himself focused on moving forward. They would find Snap. They just...had to.

So far, though, it was hard to tell if they were making any good progress or not. With how dark it was, they couldn’t tell just how far they had gone. For all they knew, they may have only gone a few feet, and they still had quite a ways to go to reach the spot where they think Snap might be. There was some light in there, but it was just barely enough to see some vague edges and each other.

The main way that they progressed was through touch. At least one of their hands touched the walls at any given time. The walls were quite cold and almost damp. Sometimes even a little pumpy and....ugh, it just felt so gross at times. Yet this was their main way of moving forward. They didn’t have much of a choice. Without being able to see...

Rudy let out a grunt when he felt himself collide with something soft and hard. He heard another grunt, this one not his own, and a small thud. He shook his head for a moment to recover and he squinted his eyes to try to figure out what he had bumped into. He couldn’t see enough to tell, but that grunt did have something of a masculine edge. And his suspicion was almost immediately confirmed.

“Hey! Be careful! It’s cramped in here!”

Rudy flinched when he heard Mint shout at him like that. “No need to be so loud, Mint. You want to give us all away?”

“Well you could have...” Mint stopped himself almost right away. He seemed to force an exhale through his clenched teeth. Rudy thought for certain that he was lowering his head, though it was hard to tell in the dark shadows of this place. “It’s quite alright. Let’s just keep going.”

Rudy nodded his head in agreement, even though Mint could not really see him. The two of them continued moving forward, walking with their backs bent forward, almost parallel to the ground as if they were dinosaurs. Penny was a little far ahead of them. Hard to tell by how much or if she had stopped. Regardless of that, they were all moving again.

Rudy reflected for a moment what he had felt earlier. It seemed so out of context to be thinking about this right now. But for a moment, his mind had shifted over to Mint. He could not help but think about what had happened before. Back in the city when they were dealing with the aftermath of the Beanie Boy attack. Or was it before...? He couldn’t really remember; some things just got muddled in his head lately.

The one thing that he did remember, however, was that strange feeling he had when he was around Mint. It was a familiar and yet still strange sensation. He didn’t get it with Penny; it was only with Mint.

What did it mean? Was it something he should be concerned with? Did Mint feel the same way? What was causing this? Did it have something to do with the Signal? But...that was impossible, wasn’t it? The Signal was gone. But then there was the strange behavior with Bell and...

Rudy’s thoughts were interrupted when he heard a skidding sound and then he found himself nearly bumping into Mint again. He ignored that strange feeling, which had returned, to try to focus on Penny further ahead. Oh man, he wished that he could see. It was just so hard to see...

Despite the fact that he could barely tell what was in front of him, Rudy managed, with the use of his hand on the wall for navigation, to move forward. He took slow, careful steps, until he was certain that he had reached Penny. It was a little hard to tell just how close he was to Penny. But the fact that he could hear her breathing did confirm for him that he was indeed close enough for clear communication.

“Penny...what is it...?”

Penny did not respond. Rudy couldn’t tell if she was even looking at him. He didn’t feel a set of eyes on him. He wondered if Penny was looking away, in some other direction. But where, he could not tell. Licking his lips nervously, Rudy took a step forward and tried again.

“Penny....” Rudy said softly. “What’s wrong? Why are you...”

That’s when he heard it. It was quite soft and barely noticeable. It was shaky and weak and yet still filled with some kind of energy, as strange as that sounded. The soft sound was not all that pleasant to hear, however, and he could feel himself clutching at his chest, feeling a small sting.

Strangely, this was not something Penny was doing. The sound was not coming from her. He could still hear her breathing. This new sound was coming from another direction. It was veering off away from where they were looking for Snap, going more towards the right, rather than left where they had wanted to go. And this sound..it was not from his friend, either.

But it was still so familiar. Why was it so familiar? Why did it sound, in some ways, like something that they had heard before? It just felt like...

Then it struck him. Almost like a sack of potatoes, it just struck him. The realization sent a wave of shock through his body and he was not able to hold back his gasp for long. He turned his head and he could feel the others exchanging expressiosn with him. No doubt shocked ones.

This sound, the one that caused them all to freeze...

He could not believe it. Never before had he ever thought he’d hear this sound. A part of him wondered if he was just hearing things. Yet the more he stood there and listened, the more that he realized...this was reality. He and the others had no choice but to face the shocking truth.

The sound that they were hearing...

It was Skrawl’s crying.

sss

Snap’s mind raced as he felt Sandra continue to hold onto him like this. Her arms were wrapped firmly around him, preventing him from wrigging himself away. Her body pressed up against his, and he could easily feel her body warmth. He could hear her breathing, feel her breath against him, feel her body press further against him with each breath. He could even hear the steady rate of her heart beat.

He could feel a cold chill run through his body as his mind began to contemplate what she had told him before. Sandra’s words buzzed through his head rapidly and he was unable to make it stop. The more he heard these words, the more his body started to shake and quiver, to the point where his teeth were nearly chattering.

The fate that Sandra intended to bring down upon him... It was much worse than he thought it would be. He could feel his heart going faster and faster and he thought that he could hear it pop inside of his chest. He wanted to struggle so badly, but he just...could not bring himself to do it. How could he even begin to struggle against a beast that could very easily make one of his internal organs explode?

He could feel his body shivering harder as he continued to think about the horrible fate that Sandra decided to bring down upon him. It was bad enough before, when she had threatened to make him her food for the rest of his life. And that was still a part of his fate, according to what she said. He was still going to provide her with sustainence. A food source....but he was also going to be her ‘companion’. The very thought caused his mind to chill. He had no idea what all that entailed, but based on this unwanted close contact, he knew it couldn’t be anything good.

Then he could feel her head lifting up away from him. He stared up at her cautiously, those red eyes boring through his own. He couldn’t turn away. No matter how hard he tried or struggled, he just...could not get himself to turn his head away. They were firmly locked in this direction and the only thing that he could do was stare at her, wondering what her next move was going to be.

The blue dragon zoner just peered down at him. Her eyes were half way closed as her mouth spread into a smile. It was an almost seductive look, though it was still tinged with malicious purpose. It was the sort of look that made it impossible to tell just what was going to happen, what she was thinking. It was like she was torn between giving him more ‘love’ or hurting him. And then she started to lower her head towards him...

Snap immediately began to panic. He struggled and squirmed as much as he could in her grasp. Sandra still maintained a good grip and he wasn’t able to stop her from planting another kiss against him. Her lips were pressed against his forehead, and she kept them there for several seconds before pulling her head back.

Snap could feel his stomach churning in disgust. He glared up at her, baring his teeth. He wanted to try striking at her, yet his arms wouldn’t move. The only kind of movement that he did with his body was shake and tremble. He might be glaring at her, but the dominant emotion in him right now was fear and terror. And it was clear that Sandra could tell that this was the case with him. Her smile broadened and she released a series of dark chuckles, causing Snap’s heart to race against his chest.

“Oh you are so adorable like that, my dear.” Sandra kept her head raised up, tilted somewhat to the side. “The way you keep glaring at me like that, trying to look all brave...” Sandra pressed her tail tip against his chin, taking care not to scratch him with her spikes. “Oh yes...that is so cute and adorable....!”

Snap let out a low growl at this and twisted his head away. He was lucky that he didn’t accidentally cut himself. But frankly, right now, he didn’t care if he did or didn’t. He just continued to glare up at Sandra, keeping his teeth bare and trying to do whatever it took to make him look more threatening to her.

Not that it had any effect on Sandra. The sky blue dragon was just amused by his attempts to look brave, and it prompted her to lower her head down and nuzzle him again.

“I don’t see why you are so upset, little Snacks. It’s not like you are going to die or anything. You should be thanking me. This is the best possible fate that you could have endured.” Sandra pulled him even closer, her face still firmly pressed up against him. “You get to stay with me, where you will be safe. You will provide me with food and company. And I will give you an experience that you will never forget. Doesn’t that sound like such a wonderful thing?”

Snap hissed at her, despite his fear. “G-Go bite your tail...”

Sandra grinned at this, chuckling. “I have far more...pleasurable plans for you.” She pressed her lips against his in another kiss, ignoring his protests.

Snap’s eyes bulged when he felt Sandra’s tongue moving around on the inside of his mouth. He gagged a little, struggling not to throw up, as he pulled his head back, trying to dislodge himself from Sandra, muffling loudly in protest. His attempts were futile as Sandra hooked an arm behind his head and pulled him closer to her, keeping him in place.

The kiss only lasted for a few seconds. But for Snap, it felt like hours. Time seemed to have crawled to a stop as he felt his nemesis’s mouth on his, her tongue exploring deep inside... He kept on fighting back the urge to throw up, his stomach churning. And when she had finally removed her mouth from him, he immediately grabbed onto his throat and started to cough and wheeze. He didn’t bother looking up at Sandra as he did this; he just kept coughing and spitting, whatever he could to stop the sensation. But even a minute after this, he still could feel her mouth upon his. It was a sensation that he doubted he would forget for a long time.

Snap stared up at Sandra in utter disgust and horror. He knew this would not be the last time that she’d do something like that. But that wasn’t what horrified him the most. The thing was...how far was Sandra willing to go with this...? How far would she take this? Would she stop at just french kissing, or would she...?

He gave a shudder at that, a burning feeling in the pit of his stomach. Not knowing how far she would go terrified him more than knowing. But as much as he wanted to shout at her and demand to know what she was up to, he just...could not bring himself to do that. He was quite torn, unsure if he really wanted to to know or if he would rather be ignorant. Which path would be worse? Which one would bestow the most horror? He honestly had no idea which way would be the most...terrifying..

“Even when I’m not biting you...” Sandra gripped Snap’s chin and forced it upwards. He felt himself stiffen and shudder quickly at how close Sandra’s face was. Almost to the point where she would kiss him again....yet she did not lean in to steal another one for him. She just...smirked down at him. “...you still taste good.” Her tongue moved along her lips slowly as she said this.

Snap let out a loud gasp at this, yanking his head back in shock. He felt a sharp tightness in his chest, irritating his stomach. He could feel his mind spinning and whirling at that. Such a simple little comment, and yet somehow it got a big reaction out of him. The context of what she said...

Snap couldn’t stop himself from struggling harder. He jerked himself from side to side as he tried to squirm his way out of Sandra’s clutches. He wasn’t even thinking of trying to get out of the kennel; he just wanted to get away from this insane dragon. He clenched his teeth tightly and seethed as he pushed against Sandra. Even as she tightened her grip, he only struggled harder to get himself free.

Then, after a few moments, through all the struggling, he did manage to dislodge himself from her. With a hunched body and his eyes never leaving her, Snap started to back away from her, letting out a low, constant growl from his gritted teeth. Sandra didn’t attempt to come right after him; she must be confident that she could stop him. And she could with those powers of hers, and Snap knew that. He knew he would not get out; all he wanted right now was for her to stay the fuck away from him.

“You look so adorable like that. I never thought of how cute you looked like you’re angry...and here it is.” Sandra pushed herself up from the ground, her tail swishing behind her. She did not sound at all upset that Snap had managed to squirm away from her. “I’m sure going to miss this attitude of yours after you are....tamed up a little.”

Snap hissed at this. “I’ll never....”

“I wouldn’t speak so soon if I were you, Snacks.” Sandra cut him off. She interlocked her fingers together as her shoulders were hunched. She gave Snap a small grin, releasing a low chuckle from her bared teeth. “You will become mine. I will see to that. Even you cannot resist forever. And when you finally break...” She took a small step towards the superhero zoner. “...I will be there to taste the victory...”

Snap shook his head furiously. “No you... I won’t give in! I swear it, Sandra! I will get out of here! I will never bow down to you!”

“Oh dear Snacks...I didn’t want you go bow down to me.” Sandra tilted her head up and back, a feather finger placed against her jaw. “I just wanted you to...stay on the ground. Beneath me like the little toy that you are.”

With that, Sandra started to move towards him. Snap’s body started to shake despite his efforts to stop. Yet he still glared at her, his eyes narrowed into slits, his teeth clenched tightly. He backed up, trying to keep distance from her. He had no idea where he was in relation to the kennel; the only thing that he could process was Sandra coming towards him, her body hunched like a dinosaur.

Eventually, Snap could feel his back pressing up against the wall. He let out a surprised yelp at this. He looked over his shoulder. Sure enough, he had been cornered. This realization caused his heart to skip several beats. He looked back up at Sandra, his narrowed eyes widening a little, his teeth continued to be bared defensively.

Sandra gave a small, quick chortle at this before she lowered her head and body further, creating a more dramatic slant to her body. She quickened her pace, coming up to Snap so fast that the blue and white zoner found himself jumping back what little space remained. With his teeth still bared, he pressed his hands and arms against the wall and cringed back as far as he could go. Sandra towered over him, keeping him in shadow. They stared at each other for several moments before Sandra seized him by his shoulders and pushed him roughly against the wall.

Sandra once more put her face close to his. Her nose was dipped down so that Snap got a good view of her triangular mark. But the thing that got most of his attention were her eyes. Those scary, crimson eyes looked as if they were staring right through his very soul...

“What is the matter, Snap? You look so tense.” Sandra’s head moved up and down as she examined Snap’s body in an almost casual way. “You should try to....” Sandra moved in even closer. Snap could feel her body heat against her, each breath splashing up against his face. “...relax.” Then she opened her mouth, her tongue rolling out, and then she...

Snap let out a loud, surprised gasp as he felt Sandra’s wet tongue moving along the side of his neck and up to his cheek. The warm trail rapidly became chilly as the air around him hit against it. Sandra took her time, purposely inhaling loudly as she licked him, as though to make him nervous. It worked; even when her tongue left him and she returned to just staring at him, Snap couldn’t stop staring at her with that mixed expression of shock and horror.

Sandra spent several moments just staring at him like this. No attempt to speak. No attempt to do anything else with him. Just...holding his shoulders tightly and keeping him firmly pressed up against the wall. Her tongue licked across her lips once more as her tail curved behind her, flexing about in some kind of terrifying rhythm.

And all Snap could do was stare at her, unsure of when or if Sandra was going to do something. There was just...no clue on her face anywhere on what she planned on doing next.

When she finally did make a move, Snap was almost...disappointed that she just grabbed his chin. Wait, disappointed...? Why would he be disappointed in that? He hardly had time to think about that before Sandra tightened her grip on his throat and lifted him up into the air. His feet dangled below him, and he tried to kick out against Sandra. His attempts were futile as she turned her head to the side, avoiding the blows entirely.

“Yes, you are much too tense right now. I don’t think that will do you much good. Your heart condition and all...”

Snap had no idea what she meant by that at first. But then that triangular symbol almost seemed to glow. And without warning, a wave of pain suddenly struck him in his chest. He took in a sharp gasp of breath, his jaws opening up as he weakly clawed at his chest with one of his hands. He stared at Sandra with wide, horrified eyes. Just..what..what the fuck was she doing to him...?

Snap could hear Sandra chuckle at this, as if she understood what he was thinking. Then he felt something press up against the side of his face. Turning his eyes over, he saw that it was one of Sandra’s feet. The dragon was balancing on one foot and gently gripping his face with one foot, her talons moving gently over his skin. Her tail was arched behind her and kept her balanced so that she did not fall over.

“Oh I know it hurts. Do not worry, though. It won’t kill you.” Sandra spoke as she gently trailed the tip of her foot talons along Snap’s cheek. She barely grazed the skin. “It will just...provide a reason for you to be more released. Don’t be so tense, Snap. It will hurt less if you just...relaxed.”

Snap wanted to say something to her. He wanted to yell at her, try to tell her off. He wanted to tell her that he wasn’t afraid of her, that nothing she did or said was going to make him fully surrender himself to her.

Yet he just...could not. The pain in his heart grew stronger as the seconds past. It felt as if, everytime his heart had to pump a little harder, it sent a jolt of pain throughout his body, making him stiffen. He shut his eyes tightly and lowered his head, seething. He struggled to cope with the pain, but it only got worse second after second. He could feel his chest tightening, a sense of panic rushing through him. That made things even worse, his heart pumping faster, hurting more, the longer he remained so tense.

He realized what he had to do. Such a task was going to be really hard. He didn’t know if he could even succeed, but...he just had to try. If he allowed this to continue... He let out a pained gasp through his open mouth as he felt another wave of pain strike against him, his chest feeling like it is close to bursting. He took in a few deep and quick breaths before he exhaled slowly and just...tried to let go.

It took what felt like several minutes. Snap wasn’t even sure of how much time actually passed. The only thing that he was aware of was this weird sensation moving around his body, down through his hands. And once it was gone, he just felt....limp. It was a sensation that he found difficult to describe. It just felt like his body had just...the only word he could use was ‘given out’, but even that didn’t accurately describe how he felt.

He felt the pressure around his neck suddenly release. His eyes widening, he felt himself being dropped into the ground. He let out a small grunt as he laid there for several seconds. He rubbed his throat gingerly, looking for any evidence of Sandra having done something to him. Then he looked up and stared at the two-legged sky blue dragon before him.

“Hmm...” Sandra moved her tail in front of herself. She pressed the tip of it harmlessly against Snap’s chin and lifted it up. “I guess you learn fast...with some things. Now if only you could be this relaxed with your fate.” She released him somewhat roughly, letting his chin bang against the hard ground. “But I’m sure you will learn in time.”

Snap gritted his teeth and let out a growl. He raised up his head and he felt his body tensing up once more, giving a few hard shakes. He felt a small burst of energy and, before he knew it, he had launched himself at Sandra, his body colliding with her. Sandra hardly fought back. With only a screech of surprise, she was on the ground, Snap on top of her. Without even realizing what he was doing, he bit down on Sandra’s shoulder. This prompted another shriek from Sandra, prompting Snap to bite down harder.

It didn’t take long before Snap started to taste her blood. The feeling caused him to want to lurch, but his mind was too focused, too intent on making her leave him alone. His jaws tightened up around her shoulder and he continued to bite into her.

He was confused as to why Sandra was not fighting back. He was certain that he was hurting her like this. Why wasn’t she...?

That’s when he saw that she was smiling. Flinching a little, showing that she was in some pain. But over it all, she was smiling, as if she expected this, liked it, or something similar. This realization made his eyes widen in confusion. He tried to comprehend what was going on, to make sense of it all. But Sandra just kept smirking at him. Almost knowingly...like...

Snap suddenly gasped when he felt a sharp pain in his chest. He clutched at it, rubbing it carefully. In his shock, he eventually realized just what was going on. His heart rate had increased when he had attacked her, and that in turn caused his heart to... Oh gawd, it hurt...

“You really should have been more careful, poor little Snacks. You don’t want to keep hurting yourself, now do you?” Sandra looked down at him. Her expression was...it was hard to tell if she was being sincere or not. But her tone gave a more clear idea of what she was really thinking. “The last thing you’d want is a burst heart.”

Snap opened his mouth to breathe in heavily. He laid there on the ground, shivering, his hands clutching at his chest even more, struggling to cope with this pain. It took a little longer this time before he could relax himself enough for the pain to stop.

Sandra’s expression seemed to soften up slightly. It was difficult to tell if this was genuine or not, however. And with how she had been acting before.... Snap could not fully wrap his mind around how to interpret this expression.

“I think I toyed with you enough, don’t you think? I think you deserve a little rest.” Sandra paced herself back and forth in front of him. Her eye stared down at him sideways. “Besides I’m sure you are famished.” She stopped in her tracks. Her body straightened up, resuming its normal tripod stance. “Don’t worry. I will grab you something to eat. I won’t let you go hungry.”

Snap stared at her for a few seconds. Then, through the pain and fear, he hissed at her, “G-Go fuck y-y-yourself...”

Sandra took in a gasp at this, looking almost genuinely surprised by that remark. Her eyes narrowed deeply, her pupils shrinking. She growled down at him, her eyes piercing against him. She momentarily looked like she was about to strike him again. Snap cringed from her and turned his head away, waiting for the blow.

But the blow never came. Confused, Snap looked up at her again.

Sandra was smiling down upon him again, looking rather calm and collected, as if his words hadn’t done anything to phase her. Snap wasn’t sure what to make of this, and he couldn’t help but gulp. He could not stop the soft whine from escaping, nor could he prevent himself from shaking harder, especially when Sandra moved in closer towards him again.

Placing her hand against Snap’s cheek, she said, “I see that, even when you are in such a bad place, you have the courage to speak out against me. That is...pretty admirable.”

Snap did not respond to this. He wasn’t sure what to make of it. How was he supposed to respond to that? What did Sandra mean by it?

“Unfortunately, that attitude is going to get in the way...” Sandra gripped his chin tighter, causing a little bit of pain, causing him to fidget. “But do not worry, my dear little ‘friend’. I will find a way to...extinguish that part of you.” Upon seeing the look in his eyes at this, Sandra’s smile seemed to spread further. “I know, I’m going to miss it. I did not lie before. I really will miss it. But...” She shrugged her shoulders and sighed. “Eh, what can you do? I need a smooth operation here. And you fighting back too much will just...get in the way...” She traced a finger along his chin with her other hand. “So I best take care of that little problem...”

Snap struggled not to allow his heart rate to quicken too much, not wanting to feel the pain from before. It was so difficult, however. He felt as though he was going to wear himself out before he managed to overcome his heart’s wanting to speed up. And even without that, he still felt a stinginess in his chest, chemicals being pumped through his body.

“So just...try to lay there and relax, okay?” Sandra spoke. She stared intently at Snap, as if hoping that this would push the message into his head a little more. Then she let out a soft sigh and she released him, taking a step back. She looked at him again, this time with a more stern expression. “Now just wait here while I go grab you something to eat.” She turned herself around. “I will be right back.”

Snap watched as she left him, moving slowly towards where the door to the kennel was. Snap could have tried to rush over, taking this opportunity. But he felt too...drained. He couldn’t get himself to get up. The only thing that he could do was just lay there and watch her as she left.

But then she gave pause. She stopped right as she was starting to step out of the kennel. She remained there for several moments, her tail swishing from side to side. She looked as if she were contemplating something. Then, looking over her shoulder, she stared down at Snap. After a few seconds, a creepy smile stretched along her light blue muzzle.

“By the way, Snap...” Sandra’s eyes twinkled. “...how did I taste...?”

Snap immediately froze at this, his eyes widening. He couldn’t speak, didn’t try to say anything. He just stared out at Sandra, horrified by this statement. He wasn’t able to stop his heart from racing. But surprisingly, he felt no pain. Or perhaps he was too locked in shock to be able to feel any pain at all. His was just...frozen.

Sandra did not stand there for long. She just offered a small chuckle as she stared down at him. Then she turned her head away and, with a few hard swooshes of her tail and the clang of the door, she left him behind. Snap didn’t even react when the door was slammed and locked again, and he didn’t move even when Sandra left the room.

The reason for this was... Oh gawd, he didn’t want to admit it. He really didn’t. He struggled to keep the thought from entering his mind. He struggled to keep him from admitting something so...so horrible... He knew it was what Sandra would have wanted him to say, and he did not want to give into her. He clutched his head tightly. Any bout of pain he felt anywhere, he tried to ignore as he fought against his own mind.

But...it was useless. Utterly useless... He could struggle and fight against it all he wanted to. But the end result was still the same. There was one thing that just kept surging through his mind over and over again. And there was nothing that he could do to stop it. The only thing that he could do was just...confess.

He.... He had to admit it...

....Sandra did taste good.


	27. The Promise Breaker

She’s coming over like a suicide, and it’s the same old trip, the same old trip as before.  
-Like Suicide, Seether

sss

Skrawl...crying? That was just...so hard to believe. A part of his mind just...could not register it. He had known this darn jellybean for years and he never once did anything remotely like this. He would rant and he’d rave. He expressed both happiness and anger, but mostly anger.

But never in all of his years knowing him did Skrawl ever...cry. It just seemed too...hard to fully fathom. A part of him just simply refused to believe it. A part of him kept telling him that it was not real, that he was having some sort of dream and that he’d wake up soon.

And as he moved along with the others, heading straight towards the sound, that’s exactly what he did. Try to wake up. At any moment now, he’d flutter his eyes open, realize that it was all just some sort of strange dream, and then things would go back to normal.

But it never happened.

Mint gritted his teeth as he slowly, steadily, realized that he was not dreamin, that this truly was reality. No matter what he did or said to himself, nothing could change the fact that he really was hearing Skrawl crying. It was a strange sound, almost foreign. But even he knew that just because he didn’t hear it before doesn’t mean that it wasn’t possible. And based on what he was hearing now, it was very possible indeed.

But that only raised even more questions. Just...why was Skrawl crying at all? Why were his sobs echoing through the air? Just...what had happened to him? Mint couldn’t even begin to think of what could have happened. The only thing that he knew is that...it had to have been something quite serious. Skrawl had been injured before, but he...never cried. Especially not like this.

His mind raced at almost the same rate as his feet as he struggled to keep up with his friends. Despite the low ceiling and low visibility, the sound of Skrawl crying had caused them all to quicken their pace. It was true that Skrawl was still their enemy and once he was out, he would more than likely try to get them. But it would just...not be right if they left him. And besides, what if what happened to him could easily happen to someone else? What if it happened to Snap...?

Mint tried not to think about that too much. He didn’t want to think that Snap had been harmed in a similar manner. He tried to focus on following the others as they tried to locate Skrawl.

And down the path they continued to go. It was quite strange, coming down this way, given that there was so little that they could see. Mint was surprised that they hadn’t bumped into anything yet. He wondered if the tunnels were made much smoother and wider than they thought so that the Beanie Boys, if this was made for their use, would not clutter against each other? It was quite possible, though that was hardly of intereset to him or the others right now.

He didn’t know how much time had passed since they had begun going down this way. Several minutes, or even an hour. It was so hard to tell time in a place like this. He wished he had thought of bringing his cellphone with him. Even if he couldn’t charge it in this place, he could at the very least see what time it was.

Then, without warning, a thought crossed Mint’s mind. He lifted his head up slightly, his eyes darting left and right. Once he had located the shadows that he knew were his two friends, he called out, “Hey...do you think Snap is with Skrawl?”

Almost immediately, he could hear the sound of feet skidding as his friends came to a sudden halt. He had to struggle to stop himself, and he narrowly missed colliding with one of them. It was too dark to tell who it was. He took a step back and he struggled to see their expressions. He could only imagine that their expressions were filled with shock.

“What makes you think that?” Rudy’s voice was tentative. “You think that Skrawl...”

Mint shook his head. “That is Skrawl’s crying right there. But...don’t you think it’s possible that Snap might be there with him, too?” Mint held up his hand in gesture. “Maybe the two of the mare trapped together. Who is to say that at least some of that crying isn’t Snap’s own...?”

After a chilling silence, Penny said, “Y-You are right about that...” Penny’s voice was slightly shaky. “And knowing Skrawl, if what happened was enough to make him cry, then... th-then Snap...” She took in a sharp gasp at this and, from what Mint could gather, stared back at them in horror.

Rudy let out a low growl. “Then what are we waiting for? Let’s get going!”

With a single nod of each of their heads, the three friends resumed their walking, no, running down the pathway. They cared even less about the low ceiling than before. There were more grunts as they kept on nearly losing their footing or bumping into each other. But none of that made them slow down. They just kept on moving forward, determined to get to wherever the cries were coming from.

Their minds raced practically in sync as they each imagined what could be happening to their friend. They all were fully aware that it was hard, if not impossible, to make Skrawl cry. So to hear the jellybean sob like this, they could only begin to imagine what toll this had on Snap.

Not that Snap was a crybaby by any means. But they were all fully aware that Snap was more likely to genuinely cry than Skrawl. For Skrawl to cry, it would be more excrutiating to Snap. It was just...

...what was happening to them?

Eventually, after all the running that they did, huffing and puffing, they eventually reached something that wasn’t just darkness. They all paused when they saw something different. They rubbed their eyes a few times, trying to clear their vision, wondering if they were seeing right. They had been in here a while and they were so desperate to get to their friend, it was very likely that they were just seeing things.

But sure enough, it was there. Some kind of light shining in the distance. The way that it bounced off the walls and how it formed a squarish image suggested there was some kind of window up there. They looked at each other only momentarily before they headed over to see what was going on, what was behind this window.

As they got closer, it became increasingly easier to see one another. There wasn’t that much light, but certainly more than there had been before. With it growing increasingly easier to see, easier to be able to move forward without bumping into one another, they quickened their pace over to the window. It was situated on the ground, stretching up tall, and the dull light shined all around. The window itself was more than big enough for all of them to get in front of and look on what was on the other side.

But as they gathered and as they looked, they almost immediately wished that they weren’t able to see what was going on. For before them was an image that none of them would be able to get out of their heads any time soon. The image was just...painted in their skulls, burned into their retinas. It caused them to freeze solid, their bodies shaking, unable to believe what was going on.

If they didn’t think it was Skrawl before, the image before them certainly put them in their place. For sitting down in the room behind the window, a room that looked like it was taken straight out of a place like Alcatraz, was Skrawl. But not in a way that they had expected to see him.

The massive zoner was laying on his side. He was facing away from them. His body was slightly curled in a small ball, his antennas flopped downward. It was quickly noticed that one antenna had been ripped off. He appeared to be hugging himself, as if trying to offer himself some comfort. His visible hand was moving up and down along his shoulder, his leg curled up towards his body, practically pressing his knee against his body.

And the way that he was shivering.... It was almost like he was cold. And they had seen him shake before when he was angry. But this shaking was just...different. It was clear that this was not normal shaking. Not Skrawl normal, anyway. There was a whole new meaning behind this. Judging from the sobbing that he was still making, each breath trembling, it was very easy for them to piece together why that was.

It was such a surreal sight. Mint had not expected to see Skrawl like this. Neither did the others, juging from how Rudy’s eyes were wide and Penny had her hand to her mouth. It was just...what could they make of this? They weren’t able to see just what had Skrawl crying, but if it caused that sort of reaction out of him, then it must have been quite dreadful.

But on top of that, adding to their horror...

They did not see Snap anywhere.

This caused Mint’s heart to skip several beats. Though hearing Skrawl’s crying did not suit his mentality that well, the fact that he could not see Snap worried him even more. Just...where was Snap..?

He had thought that he’d be here. He thought for sure that Sandra would have locked him up here to keep her prisoners in the same place. He had been so positive... But he ended up being wrong. Oh so wrong.... He could feel his heart twist at this realization, licking his lips nervously. He couldn’t help but ask the same question over and over in his mind.

What were they going to do now...?

“We need to head in there.”

At this, both Mint and Rudy stared over at Penny, their eyes widened. They weren’t entirely sure of what to make of this statement. Neither of them could believe that she’d even say such a thing. She did recall that they were chalkless, right? What good would it do them to head into Skrawl’s cell? This window went right into the cell holding the jellybean, and without the magic chalk, how would they get the door open?

Surely Penny must have known this...but that didn’t stop her from heading forward, going straight for the window. Her hands soon touched it and she started to work with it, as if trying to figure out how to open it up.

Mint couldn’t help but feel so confused. He couldn’t really understand why Penny would want to get in there so badly. That didn’t seem like the best kind of judgment out of her. He would have thought that she’d try to think of something better. An alternative route or something.

But then again...this might be their only entrace back inside the main part of the building that they were going to run into any time soon. These openings were spaced far apart, and the more that they wandered around, the more likely they were to get lost or stuck or something. So perhaps they should take Penny’s suggestion and go through here. Maybe they could even convince Skrawl to help them.

Giving each other a glance, nodding once, Rudy and Mint went over towards Penny and joined her in trying to open up the window. The three teenagers worked together, pressing their hands against the door and trying to push against it. Their teeth gritted as they applied pressure, focusing on one particular spot.

Soon, there was a budge. At this, they began to push harder, focusing on that same area. They seethed, applying more and more pressure. They could feel the window start to give way a little more. That’s it...they just need to push a little harder...

Suddenly, with a loud creaking sound, it gave way. The three friends didn’t have time to react before they were careening forward. They pushed up against each other as they struggled to stop themselves. But the force that they had exerted while trying to open this thing was enough to prevent this from happening. Before they knew it, they all had fallen forward and landed in a small pile on the ground.

Mint laid there for several moments before he managed to push himself up onto one hand, using the other to rub his head. He let out a soft ground as he felt Rudy and Penny slide off of him. Lifting up his head, he stared over at where Skrawl was, noticing him staring right at him. He immediately froze, uncertain of what to make of those wide, mismatched eyes, filled with an emotion that he could not identify.

Skrawl just...stared at him for several moments, unblinking. There was the hint of tears still streaming down his face. The jellybean hardly seemed to react in disgust with them there. If anything, he looked almost...relieved? Such a strange thing to think, but..that’s exactly what it looked like.

“R-Rudy? Penny? Mint?” Skrawl croaked. “Wh-What are you doing here?”

sss

The Beanie Boy could feel his body shaking. It wasn’t even that cold in here. Yet he could not stop himself. He constantly felt his own arms wrapping around him as he struggled to provide himself with some kind of warmth. He gritted his teeth tightly as he looked out ahead, his mind constantly racing.

Just how did it all come down to this? How did they all come to work for such a...a maniac? Why couldn’t he conjure up the hatred that he had for her? Why could he do nothing but just....float here, his mind spinning constantly?

He licked his lips nervously. There was little he could do to try to understand. It wasn’t that he didn’t want to try; it was just that...he didn’t know how. He licked his lips nervously, tasting the salt of the tears that he had shed previously. It almost tasted good in comparison to the bitterness that was in his mouth.

He wanted so much to go up against Sandra. A part of him just wanted to rip out her throat. He wanted to strike her down and force her to feel regret for what she has wrought upon them. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to do it. There was just this...nagging feeling in his head. Something that just wouldn’t let him go, no matter how hard he tried. It was a feeling that seemed foreign, but he knew it all too well.

It was fear.

He couldn’t help it. Despite telling himself that Sandra needed to be dealt with, that he couldn’t allow himself to be so terrified of her, he just...could not stop himself from feeling afraid of her. It was like his mind thought that, at any moment, Sandra would strike him down. And the scariest part of that was....it was very possible.

Sandra was not like Rudy or any of his little friends. Sandra did not hold back. She would give it her all if she wanted to. She could act without moving. Those powers enabled her to bring them all to their knees. Oh yes, the Beanie Boy was much more terrified of the blue dragon than of the creators. And that was saying something.

He continued to move down the corridor, his eyes shifting left and right. He struggled to try to see if he could find where those children had gotten off to. He had no idea if he was getting close to them or not. He didn’t even know they were down here at all.

But he couldn’t stop looking. He knew what Sandra would do with Skrawl if he didn’t try to find them. The fear of what could happen to his master, the one who had taken him in all those years ago, caused his blood to chill. He...he didn’t want to see Skrawl get hurt. Not again. Especially not after what had happened to him earlier...

The Beanie Boy struggled not to think of that incident. He tried to push it into the back of his mind. He tried to pretend that it hadn’t happened, that it was just some sort of bad dream...yet he couldn’t for very long. How could he pretend that the horrible incident didn’t happen when he himself had seen it happen...?

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard a clanging sound. His body immediately stiffened up and he turned his head left and right, trying to find the source of the sound. He clenched his teeth tightly as he started to make his way over towards one direction. His widened, fear-filled eyes struggled to locate the origin of that loud sound.

Moving himself around the corner and looking over, his eyes immediately widened when he saw that he had gone around in a circle. He had somehow ended up back where Skrawl’s cell was. He could see his master on the ground, looking as if he was still crying. The sight of this alone was enough to bring a wave of conflicting emotions inside of him, causing him to bite his lip. But as much as this site was perplexing to him, there was another that he could not get his eyes off of.

There was someone else clearly with Skrawl. He couldn’t tell exactly who it was from this angle and distance. But he could see that Skrawl was looking at...someone. He didn’t know whom or what. It was just clear that Skrawl was looking and reacting to someone else being there. The only way to find out what was by moving forward.

And moving forward, he did. He walked, no, floated, towards the cell of his master. He kept himself up against the wall, doing whatever he could to remain out of sight. He couldn’t let anyone see him. Not yet. Not before he could see what was going on.

When he had gotten close enough, he immediately froze, his eyes bulging wide. Could it be...? Could his searching finally be over? Was he really seeing what he thought he was? Was it possible that...? A part of him wondered if he was just seeing things, because surely things couldn’t be that easy, right? There had to be some kind of catch or...

But it was real. No matter how hard he rubbed his eyes, no matter what he tried, it still resulted in the same thing.

Rudy, Penny, and Mint were in Skrawl’s cell.

The Beanie Boy was frozen at this. His mind reeled. After all that time worrying and searching, feeling as though he would be attacked by Sandra at any piont, his answers had been given to him on a silver platter. He didn’t know if he was lucky or what, if it was something else or not. He wanted to speak, to call out to them, shout, whatever, yet he was just too stunned in shock to do anything.

The Beanie Boy shook his head, trying to focus his attention. His stared intently at the scene before him. They might be talking about something, but frankly, he was hardly hearing any of that, his mind instead focused on going through with his task. With his eyes narrowing into slits, he turned around and went down the hallway to try to find the other Beanie Boys. He was going to need help with this.

sss

It was so hard to believe. A part of her wanted to think that this was just some sort of crazy dream. There was just...it didn’t make much sense for this to be real, right? She must be seeing things wrong.

But the image before her never changed. Never once was there ever an indication that her vision was going to be altered. It just...kept showing her the same thing over and over again. Nothing she did would change this image before her, and she had to quickly accept that it was reality.

Skrawl had been reduced to tears.

That sentence that went through her mind sounded almost like she had pulled it out of some kind of dream or something. It just...didn’t seem like it could be real. She never thought before that she’d use such a sentence in regards to Skrawl. He might have cried in the past out of pain, but this...this was out of shere distress. And she was having a hard time believing it.

And judging from the looks on Rudy and Mint’s faces, they found it difficult to believe as well. She couldn’t blame them. Never in their lives had they ever thought they’d hear, let alone see, Skrawl crying like this. It didn’t seem like him at all. They almost thought that they were dealing with some kind of weird doppelganger placed here to confuse them. Though this did not make sense. What benefit would their enemies have in doing something like this? If they were to use a doppelganger, why not of someone who was a friend? Why a villain crying?

Penny stared over at Skrawl, her spinning mind taking a while to fully realize just what it was that she was looking at. The jellybean hadn’t moved, let alone give any kind of obscene or threatening gesture like she would have expected. He was just...staring at her. His mismatched eyes held no anger; replaced with fear. She also saw something else in those eyes that she did not expect. Something kind of like...hope? As if Skrawl was almost happy to see them?

Now that really didn’t sound like Skrawl at all. Someone had to be playing a trick on them somehow. There was no way that this could be...

But deep down, she knew that this shivering, almost pathetic creature before her was Skrawl. She could not deny that fact just because she had trouble believing who this person was. But if it truly was Skrawl...

She felt her heart skip a beat as her mind raced. What could have brought Skrawl down to this level? What could have made him end up...like this? How could this have happened? She knew that her friends were wondering the same thing. She wished that she could have provided some sort of answer. But in truth, she was just as worried and surprised as they were. She had no idea of what to make of this, and she couldn’t help but grit her teeth.

She knew the only way to get information. If she wanted to understand what was happening, she’d have to get it straight from the horse’s mouth. She had no idea if Skrawl was going to answer or not. But she had to try. And besides, he did ask a question, didn’t he?

“We are here to get you out.”

She could hear Skrawl take a sharp gasp of breath at this, staring at her with widened eyes. She did not speak a word for several moments, allowing Skrawl to process this information. He kept blinking his eyes several times, making it rather clear to her and to her friends that he did not expect that kind of statement to be spoken.

Rudy and Mint had soon joined her at her side, taking position on either side of her. They stared down at Skrawl, nodding their heads slowly, showing Skrawl that they really were being truthful about the whole thing. Skrawl could only look at them in shock, his mind slowly processing what he had been told. It seemed to take him a while before he managed to give some kind of response.

“Wh-Why?” Skrawl spoke. His voice still sounded just as weak as ever, causing them all to flinch. Just what had happened to Skrawl to make him like this?

Penny took a step towards him. “Because...it wouldn’t be right just leaving you here like this.” Penny’s eyes moved over Skrawl’s still trembling body. Her mind ran through many questions, mostly those centered on just what could have happened to Skrawl. “We might be enemies, but we’re not cruel.”

Skrawl stared at her for several seconds, processing this. He gave a few small coughs before his eyes narrowed slightly. “I-I know there has to be a-another reason..” He gave a longer, more pathetic cough before he continued, trying to sound a little more stern. “Why don’t you tell me why you’re really here.”

Penny glared at Skrawl. Of course Skrawl wouldn’t really accept her initial answer. He just wasn’t that kind of person. He always felt there was a catch to everything. Considering that the guy’s only friends were the Beanie Boys, she was not at all surprised by this. She had given a sincere answer, and Skrawl rejects it.

Well in that case, she could give him the other reason. There was more than one. Both were what was motivating them into doing this. Though both were valid, Skrawl would only see reason with this second one, given his mindset.

“I think we could benefit from working with each other.” Penny stated. Again Skrawl’s eyes widened, though he did not look nearly as shocked as the first time. “Sandra is the enemy of both of us. I know we talked about working together before already, but we are extending out our hand again. Help us and we will help you.”

“That is right.” Rudy moved slightly closer. He stared down at Skrawl with the most sympathy that Penny had ever seen him give to the jellybean. “You agreed to help us before. You can do it again.” He raised up his hand in gesture. “So what do you say?”

Mint spoke up next. “You and we may have had our...problems before. But you also know us well enough that we would not make something like this up. We would never trick you like that.” He paused for a moment, biting his lip as if remembering something unpleasant. Penny had an idea of what that was, and she remained quiet on it. “Agree to help us again and we will get you out of here.”

Skrawl looked as if he wanted to speak. Yet he remained quiet. His head turned to one side, looking down at nothingness. He didn’t seem to hold as much of the spark as he did before. It was like he had been..deflated was the only word that he could use to describe his present behavior. This caused the three teens to look at each other in confusion and concern. They wondered once more just what could have happened to him. It had to have been something truly awful.

Penny became worried from the lack of an answer. Skrawl may have been their enemy, but she could not help but feel sorry for him. She hated seeing anyone needlessly suffer. And this.... She had never wanted Skrawl to be so...broken. What was going on with him? Did...Did Sandra do something to him? She had to find out.

Penny moved closer to Skrawl. The lack of a reaction from him other than a weak growl and cringe was definitely worrying. For Skrawl to act like this.... “What happened?” She managed to ask him. Her voice was soft and now. “What did Sandra do to you..?”

At this question, Skrawl seemed to almost come alive. And not in a very pleasant way, either.

The jellybean started to shake even harder. He laid down on his side, unable to sit up any longer. He curled his body inward a little, his eyes growing wide and wild. His remaining antenna started to quake in response and he gritted his teeth in a near fearful manner. He started to stumble and mutter, clearly struggling to speak some form of words. He kept on failing, and much of what he said was indiscernable.

This reaction caused Penny to exchange horrified glances with Mint and Rudy. Even if Skrawl hadn’t yet told them anything, this reaction alone was enough to tell all three of them that it was worse than they had imagined. Something was clearly wrong with Skrawl. Something horrible had happened to him. And they had no idea if Skrawl would even tell them anything. Not in his current state.

“Sh-She... She had... On the ground.... Pain...” Skrawl muttered almost inchorently. His breaths were sharp and shaky, and he kept shaking hard, distorting his voice. “P-Pinned me down... Wanted to control me... She h-h-had...”

That was all Skrawl could manage before his voice dissipated into choked sobbing. The very sound of it caused the teens’ blood to chill. To hear Skrawl sobbing like this, it was so surreal and so uncomfortable. They found it hard to tear their eyes away from the zoner’s crying, trembling form.

Penny looked over at her friends, her wide, horrified eyes exchanging silent messages with them. She then looked back down at Skrawl, breathing in and almost slowly, trying to keep herself from getting too worked up. She had to keep her mind as calm as possible so that she could properly analyze this situation and try to think of a solution to it.

It was difficult to do this, however, as she stared down at the crying Skrawl. She bit her lip, several uncomfortable thoughts racing through her head. Skrawl hadn’t revealed much information, but what he did say was pretty telling. And if it was what she thought it was.... She gritted her teeth, feeling her stomach churn. A part of her didn’t want to believe that Sandra would go that far. But with how deprived she had been getting lately...

Suddenly and without warning, they were all cut off from what they were doing when there was a loud bang from one direction. The same direction that they had initially come in here from. They all, minus Skrawl who was still curled up on the ground as he remembered what Sandra had done to him, whirled their heads around to see the four Beanie Boys bursting in through that opening they had come in from.

They all immediately jumped, turning themselves around as quickly as possible as they prepared for a fight. But they were unable to react quickly enough. Before they knew it, the Beanie Boys had launced themselves at them, grabbing them and tackling them to the ground.

Penny let out a painful grunt as one of the Beanie Boys grabbed onto her. She seethed as the Beanie Boy grabbed onto her face and pushed it against the ground. She felt the cold floor of the ground scrunch up about half of her face. With her teeth bared, she looked up at the Beanie Boy with one eye.

“Let go of me, you sack of...!”

“Oh now why would I do that?” The Beanie Boy tilted his head to one side. “Do you even need me off? Why don’t you try to break my neck...” The Beanie Boy’s eyes narrowed dangerously at that statement. “....just like you had done before...”

Penny felt her heart skip a beat at this when she realized that this was the same Beanie Boy that she had threatened to kill before. The horrific realization of what she almost did swept through her body. And now that she was facing the same Beanie Boy again...

She struggled as hard as she could against him. She tried to kick at him with her foot, or strike him with a fist, or whatever she could make him go away. But no matter what she tried, it just didn’t seem to work. The Beanie Boy was just out of range, or he would dodge the attack with ease. Penny seethed through her tightly clenched teeth, frustration burning the tips of her fingers. There just had to be something that she could do.

She attempted to wriggle herself around. Maybe if she got on her back, she could get a better aim with her feet and kick the Beanie Boy away. But her attempts utterly failed as the Beanie Boy closed in on her, wrapping his arms around her neck and holding her so tightly that she nearly gagged.

Penny shut her eyes and let out a cry of pain as the Beanie Boy yanked her head back, a jolt of pain racing through her vertebrate. She attempted to crawl away with her hands, her fingers scratching into the ground in desperation. But no matter what she tried, it didn’t seem to be enough. The Beanie Boy just pulled harder, causing her to cry out and let up and trying to free herself. Eventually she forced herself to relax, a desperate attempt to avoid possibly breaking her neck.

Slowly she turned her head to see how her friends were doing. One Beanie Boy had a hold of Mint, pushing him into the ground. Mint had struggled the best that he could, evident from the marks on the ground. The Beanie Boy proved to be too much and he had managed to loosen Mint’s prosthetic, much to her horror. The poor older teen had collapsed into the ground as a result, and the Beanie Boy had just ripped off the prosthetic and was threatening to slice Mint’s throat open with it, even if the edges were a bit dull.

The remaning two Beanie Boys had a hold of Rudy. They grabbed onto his arms and were trying to restrain him. However, Rudy was putting up quite the fight, his mind fueled with determination. He had managed to free himself from one of the Beanie Boys and he struck the other, knocking them back. Penny watched with widened eyes as Rudy grabbed one of the Beanie Boys and attempted to pin them down.

But he never got that far.

There was another clamor. Something pattering towards them. A low growl. A flash of blue and wind moved quickly beside her. Penny caught it in the corner of her eye. She felt a brief rush of air, and then her vision filled with blue. Then she heard a loud grunt from her friend and a thudding sound. After a few seconds, she soon realized what had happened.

Sandra...it was Sandra... She had found them. Somehow she had found the. But...but how? It had to have been the Beanie Boys. They must have told her where they were and she must have followed. Her heart skipped several beats as she stared at Sandra, who presently had Rudy pinned down to the ground.

A nervous, anxious silence fell upon the room as the enemies stared at one another. Penny felt her heart twist and tighten, her blood temperature lowering. She had no idea what Sandra was going to do. And if she just laid there...

Penny struggled the best that she could to escape, twisting her body left and right. She stared out in horror at where Rudy was being held. She could not allow Sandra to take him from them. She just couldn’t... She had to try to save him, before she...

But the Beanie Boy held onto her tighter, pulling her neck even further into that awkward direction, preventing her from struggling for too long. She stiffened up, letting out a pained squeak, before she reluctantly went limp. She let out a few pain-filled pants as she stared out at where Rudy was pinned down. She watched as Sandra opened up her jaws, exposing her sharp teeth. Her heart nearly ready to explode, she screamed.

“Rudy!”

sss

Sandra winced as she heard Penny release a loud, echoing scream. She pulled her lips back into a partial snarl. She hated being interrupted. She slowly turned her head over to where Penny was, her eyes narrowed into slits. “I would thank you not to interrupt me again, girl..” Sandra spoke in a low tone. “Scream like that again, and I promise that your friend here won’t have such a pleasant time...”

This seemed to work. Not just Penny, but Mint also gasped in horror and they looked as if they were trying to hold still. If not for themselves, but for Rudy. Sandra could almost laugh at this. As if them holding still was going to stop her from toying with their friend.

She looked back down at Rudy, baring her sharp at him. As she looked into his terrified eyes, she felt a rush of adrenaline, and the almost bittersweet sensation of nostalgia. Yes, she remembered the last time she had pinned him down. But back then, she had been wild, feral, too consumed with rage. Now this time around, she was able to actually savor this moment.

And savor she did. The way that Rudy was looking at her, how he was on the ground, unable to move, at her complete mercy... Yes, this is exactly how Rudy should always be. The little promise breaker deserved this, and so much more.

An idea soon sparked into her head and she couldn’t help but chortle at it. She watched as Rudy’s eyes widened with even more fear, intermixed with confusion, unsure of what she was thinking of doing. She thought of staying silent and letting him find out on his own. But she felt the desire to speak to him one single line before she would act. Give him a brief moment to dwell on what she was going to do. Make him even more anxious.

“Say, Rudy... I have to ask you something.” Sandra pulled her head back into a slight S shape. “Do you remember....this?!”

Without warning, without giving Rudy too much time to dwell on this question, Sandra shot her head forward. She moved so fast, she must have been just a blur to everyone who saw. Her jaws clamped tightly around his throat and she held it there, her teeth pressing up against his neck flesh. The results of this action were almost instant.

Rudy immediately let out a loud scream of terror. His body jerked about, trying to push back against her. This only lasted for a second. All it took was a slight tightening of her jaw, and Rudy went still. He let out a series of low whimpers as he stared up at her in terror, his body unmoving save for the trembles that rumbled through him.

Sandra could hear Mint and Penny call out to her. They were desperate to get her to leave their precious little friend alone. Her ears twitched as they continued to shout, and they only seemed to be getting louder. She had to wonder where they even got the strength from.

“Don’t you dare hurt him! Let him go now!”

“Please, Sandra! Don’t do it! He’s been through enough! Just let him go!”

“I swear, Sandra, if you break his neck again, I’ll...!”

“Just spare him! We’ll do anything you want! Just release him!”

Sandra only gave them a brief glance. She watched as they glared at her, noting their expressions. A perfect mix of rage and horror. Despite her warning before, she decided not to do anything. Their screaming was getting a little more...entertaining at this point. She smirked at them for a moment before turning her attention back to Rudy down below her. All the while, her jaws never left his neck.

She was not biting that hard, really. Maybe just enough for a slight nick that the boy felt, but she had no intention on doing any real damage. Not like before, anyway. She only wanted to mess with him, see his reaction. She craved the sight of his terrified face. It caused something to flutter inside of her, making her want more of this.

And meanwhile, Rudy didn’t try to struggle any further. He kept himself on the ground, on his back, barely moving. He looked as if he wanted to fight back, and Sandra knew full well that he did. Yet he could not bring himself to do anything except stare at her in raw terror. She could see, even from this close up angle, the tears that formed in his eyes, moving down his cheek. And there was no mistaking those soft, trembling whimpers that escaped his throat.

It was only after about a minute passed and Mint and Penny’s voices died down that Sandra pulled her head away, releasing him. She kept him pinned down, her face lowered to be close to his. Even with his neck released, Rudy hadn’t moved still. His eyes were glued onto hers. The fear practically glowed off of them.

Then, as she stared down at Rudy, there was a flicker in the back of her mind. It took her by surprise, and it caused her smirk to broaden slightly. “You know, you looking so afraid does make you kind of...cute.” Sandra reached down and gripped Rudy’s chin, forcing it to one side. “I suppose that is one redeeming quality that you have...” Her eyes narrowed. “Though it is a shame that you still tainted yourserlf by breaking a promise.”

“He didn’t mean to!” Penny called out from where she was still pinned. “You can’t hold him liable for that! I forgave him! He did make it up to me later!”

Sandra turned her head to Penny and growled. “You’re such a fool... You should never turn your back on a promise breaker.”

“Shut up! She did say that he made it up to her later! Why do you have to be such a...” Mint was cut off when Sandra spoke over him.

“It matters not if he made it up to her later! The point is, he should have helped her like he promised to in the first place, not lollygag around with...whatever the fuck he was doing!” Sandra returned her gaze to Rudy. She glared at the whimpering teenager coldly. “He still has a lot to learn about decency and common sense! And, you know, how to be a fucking friend!”

“Oh don’t you get us started on that!” Mint growled. The sound of it made it seem as though his teeth were bared and clenched, which Sandra had a feeling was the case. “With the stuff that you’ve done to Snap...”

Penny narrowed her eyes. “If you had been Snap’s friend, you would have...”

“Enough!”

At Sandra’s boom, the Beanie Boys holding them down proceeded to strike the two children on their heads hard. The two of them let out a cry of pain before the Beanie Boys pushed them further into the ground. With those two distracted for the time being, Sandra returned her gaze down to Rudy.

There were so many things that she wanted to do with him. So many ways to make him utterly pay for what he has done. Even though he was already living in a prison of his own, a part of her still wanted to get back at him. A part of her still wanted to punish him in some shape or form. The feeling was just so tempting...

But she knew she could not. She had bigger plans for him. She still saw potential in him. She would not admit it out here, though. She loved watching them squirm, clearly believing that she was going to hurt Rudy badly. She quite enjoyed their reaction. It made her feel in charge. It made her feel as though she had power over them...

...which she did, essentially. She was in full control here. And she would make sure that they all remembered it. And one way to do that...

“I like these things. They were...oh so handy, aren’t they...?” Sandra ran her hand along the metallic portion of Rudy’s leg. She rubbed the device for several moments, taking her time to admire them. She had to admit, they did have quite the nice design to them. “I can’t have them cause me any issues, however. You understand, right?”

Rudy’s eyes bulged, as if he realized what she had planned to do. He shook his head rapidly, shouting pleas with her. “N-No! Don’t! Y-You can’t do that! Please..don’t!”

Sandra sneered at this. “I do apologize, Rudy.” There was no sincerity in her voice. “But this has to be done. Hold still now. This will only take a second...”

She clamped her jaws around one of the metal contraptions on Rudy’s leg. She tightened her jaw around it firmly. She made sure not to touch any of his real flesh as she did not want to damage him too much just yet. Once she got her jaws settled the way that she wanted them to be, she began to apply pressure.

She ignored the cries from Mint and Penny. She ignored the pleas of Rudy. She continued to grind her jaw downward, unafraid of damaging her teeth. They were quite durable. If they could handle breaking Rudy’s neck, then they should be able to take care of something as simple as this, right?

As she continued biting down, she shifted her eyes over to where Skrawl was. He had collapsed on the ground and did not seem all that aware of what was going on. She was not really surprised by this fact. After what she had done to him...

Sandra couldn’t help but smirk. She felt a sense of pride at what she had done. Even if the act itself seemed simple, it was one of those things that had an...everlasting effect. Even someone as vile as Skrawl was not immune to it, as evident by his pitiful, sobbing reaction. She imagined that she would not get much trouble from him after this point. Oh yes, Skrawl was under her control now.

She gnawed and chewed on the metal contraption that enabled Rudy to walk. All the while, the teenagers still shouted at her. Fear, hope, and rage, all intermingling together, forming a choir around her. She was not deterred; if anything, these sounds were making her even more excited to pull this off. She kept on biting and chewing, struggling to shatter Rudy’s only means of walking.

Then, after a while of biting and trying to crush the metal contraption, there was a crack.

sss

Rudy struggled against Sandra’s grasp. He tried so hard to twist and turn his body around, hoping that something he did would make her let go of him. But it was utterly useless. Nothing he did made her let go. And after what she had done to him, how could he even bring himself to do it?

He could still feel the pain in his stomach. He could still feel her reaching inside and threatening to tear open his appendix. He could still feel the shooting pain go through him in that location, as though Sandra still had a hold of it. The thought of it caused him to shudder and he nearly let out a whimper just from the memory of it all. It took him a little while before he managed to get that feeling away from him, out of his mind and thought. At least, enough to focus on struggling.

But what was the point? He knew what would happen if he got away. Would Sandra go through with what she said? She might not have said ‘I promise’, but the way she had looked at him when she said it...it was qutie clear to him that she really would do it if he ‘forced’ her into it. Sandra had already proven to him just how cruel she truly was. There was no argument about that here.

Rudy let out a small grunt as he found himself hitting against the wall. Sandra was not exactly being gentle with him. There was little that he could do about it, either. His arms and legs were tied, giving him very little room to move around. And it seemed like, the more that he struggled, the more likely he’d get hurt.

He couldn’t bring himself to stop struggling completely, however. How could he? In this situation, he just... It was just impossible. There was no way that he could stop. The very idea seemed almost ludicrous. He felt as though if he thought of stopping, Sandra might....do something. He wasn’t sure what. He just felt inclined to keep fighting, to keep struggling. It was just...what more could he do?

He noticed that Sandra was dragging him down a hallway that he hadn’t yet been through before. He couldn’t quite recognize what the purpose of this area was. It did not seem like much. Nothing too outstanding.

And somehow, that made it even more suspicious and uncomfortable for him. If Sandra took him down what was clearly a torture chamber, at least he would have an idea of what to expect. But here, in this situation, going down a hallway that did not have a discernable purpose, that just seemed to be a whole lot worse. It was like Sandra was deliberately hiding her intentions from him, and all he could do was just...guess.

And you know what they say. Imagination often breeds the worst outcome. It might not be as bad as he thought it was going to be. Or it could be a whole lot worse. And the only way to know was to wait until he got there.

It didn’t help that Sandra did little to make sure that he was being dragged more smoothly. He was bumping into things, banging a little. And he couldn’t tell how much of this was affecting his legs. There was just so little feeling there. He was unable to discern if there was any actual damage being done. He could see his legs flopping about a little, but without being able to feel them too much, for all he knew, his legs could be fine...or they could have some muscles pulled, or even a broken bone or two...

And there was no way for him to know unless he had someone assess his leg for him. Or he could try, and try to see if there were any bruises or other internal bleeding. This was not something that he had to worry about before. If Sandra hadn’t....

Rudy immediately froze at that. He could feel his body temperature dropping. Between what happened in the past, and what was happening now... It was just too difficult for him to calm down. He wouldn’t be surprsied if he suffered a heart attack at any moment.

He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as Sandra kept dragging him. The sky blue dragon hadn’t spoken to him since she began to drag him. The silence was quite eerie, though he didn’t know for sure if he would rather have this or her talking. Both made him feel quite uneasy and he couldn’t help but grit his teeth a little. He could only hope that, after Sandra takes her wherever, that she’d leave him alone for a while so he could try to wrap his mind around what was going on, and try to figure a way out of here.

He hadn’t given up on that yet. If Sandra thought that breaking his metal leg braces and forcing him on the ground was going to be enough to stop him, well she was going to have another think coming soon enough. He just need to wait for the right moment before...

Suddenly Sandra stopped in front of a door. Rudy let out a grunt from the sudden stop. He looked down at his legs and noticed how lopsided they were. He could not tell if they were broken or not. It almost seemed as if they were close to being broken, though maybe that was just his imagination.

He didn’t have time to dwell on that, though. Only mere seconds after Sandra had opened up the door, he felt himself being tossed into the room in a rather rough manner. He let out a loud yell as he collided with the floor, his body flipping around a bit as he went. He soon settled on the ground, laying fully on his stomach.

He hardly had time to move when he felt Sandra’s foot on his back. He immediately froze at this, his eyes growing wide. Sandra hadn’t attempted to do anything yet, outside of pressing her claws against the flesh a little. But with her talons this close at all to him, he knew it was best to just...hold still and not do anything. He couldn’t risk provoking Sandra into an attack.

“Well, well, look at what I had finally managed to catch.” Sandra lowered her body slightly, putting her head a little closer to him, arching it to one side. “You know how long I had dreamed of this moment, dear Rudy?”

Rudy could only think to growl at her. He wanted to show her whatever defiance that he could, not wanting her to have any sort of edge over him.

This, however, only made Sandra’s smile spread. It was almost as if she had hoped that he’d be a little defiant to her. Perhaps so that she could justify whatever actions that she took against him. With her tail swishing from side to side more rapidly, she said, “It’s been far too long.” She turned her head to the other side. “I was not joking about what I said before either, little Rudy.” A small grin spread across her muzzle. “I really do look forward to having a good time with you....”

Rudy bared his teeth at this. “Why don’t you just....” He was immediately stopped when he felt Sandra gripping his throat tightly.

The dragon zoner’s ears were lowered slightly, her previously smiling expression having faltered ever so slightly. Her red eyes bored straight through his. It was so hard to look away. Even when he turned his head tot he side, at least one eye was always on those red eyes. Despite trying to tell himself to hold still, Rudy found himself struggling, clawing at Sandra’s arm to make her let go. But it only caused her to tighten her grip.

“I think you should watch your tongue, you little promise breaker...” Sandra warned him through slightly bared teeth. “I don’t think you can afford another..accident....” Sandra traced a feather finger along the side of Rudy’s neck. “...now can you...?”

Rudy felt ice shoot through his veins at this comment. He stared at Sandra with bulging eyes and he couldn’t help but gulp nervously His previous attempts to struggle stopped completely almost right away. His whole body just seemed to go stiff at first, and then limp.

He felt disgusted doing this. He didn’t want to do this. He didn’t want to surrender to her like this. So much of him just wanted to, at the very least, spit at her. Or other sign of defiance, whatever. He just...didn’t want to let her control him like this. He was the Great Creator. He should be fighting back. By letting Sandra get to him like this, well....what good was he to anyone? He...He had to fight back...

Yet he could not bring himself to do it. Sandra just...she was too intimidating. Something about her just kept him locked in place, unable to move. And as he stared into those red eyes...those horrible red eyes...

The back of his mind flashed rapidly. Image after image popped into his head. It was just like what happened before. Even with that acknowledgement, he could not stop himself from seeing those horrifying things in his mind. How Sandra had him pinned down and biting on his neck and....

...the fact that she did it again...

Sandra interrupted his train of thought as she placed a hand to his face. Rudy shuddered at this, though he could not bring himself to pull his face away. It was like her hand had been glued there, and even though her feather fingers were soft, somehow this just...hurt. Sandra grabbed onto his chin a little and forced his head upwards slightly. Rudy gritted his teeth from the force of the turn.

“I do hate to part from you so soon. I would love to tell you more about what I have in store for you. But perhaps I should leave you be for now. Let you get settled in.” Sandra paused for a moment, swishing her tail from side to side. “I had thought about letting you stay alone, but I think you deserve a little company.”

Rudy widened his eyes at this. He licked his lips dryly, his swimming mind trying to think of how to comprehend this statement. “....Snap...?”

Sandra tilted her head to one side. Her eyes narrowed a little, moving her tail forward and up to her face, rubbing it lightly. “That was a consideration... But no, he isn’t to be your roommate. Sorry to disappoint you, dear boy. But I do think that you still know this guy. I’m sure you will have plenty of time to...” Sandra leaned her body to the side. “...catch up.”

Rudy felt a strong, twisting pang of disappointment that it wasn’t Snap that he’d be with. He wanted to see how his friend was doing. He wanted to be there for him, to comfort him. But Sandra was deliberately keeping them apart. He guessed that she believed that, by putting them together, she would run the risk of his kind words being able to bring strength to Snap, and vice versa. She wanted to break both of them, and keeping them apart would make this process a little easier.

Rudy didn’t really have much time to respond to Sandra’s comment before she started to drag him again further into the room. He tried to ignore the dank smell and he tried not to pay attention to how twisted Sandra’s expression had gotten. Such a chilling look that was hard to ignore, but he managed to tear his eyes away from her and, for a moment, was able to pretend that she was not there.

He was brought over to a cage. He could feel her lift him up and he was thrown into the cage roughly. He crashed into the ground painfully as he heard the door lock behind him. He whipped his head over and he glared daggers at Sandra, who just smiled back.

“Now play nicely, you two...” Sandra spoke softly. She shifted her eyes once, as if to look at something behind Rudy. Then her eyes focused on Rudy once more. They narroed slightly. “I will be back for you later. So I hope you get yourself well rested. Because I have plans for you, my little promise breaker.” Her muzzle flashed an evil grin. “Big plans..”

Rudy hunced himself and couldn’t stop the whimper from escaping his throat as Sandra said this. There were several long moments of them just staring at one another before Sandra finally turned and walked away, leaving him be.

But even after she left, Rudy kept staring. A part of him almost wondered if she would come back so quickly. He had little reason to think that she’d be gone too long. This was Sandra, after all. And he knew her views on promise breakers. For all he knew, she’d be back in a few minutes, and he’d only have seconds to live before those claws tear out his throat. And that was if he was lucky.

Rudy could hear a rustle behind him. The scraping of claws. He turned his head quickly to look behind him. He could see only shadow at first. The back of the cage was quite dark, something placed over it to make it that way. But he could still see movement. Narrowing his eyes, he started to make his way over slowly. Or at least he tried to, though it was slow going with him crawling along the ground. He ignored this discomfort as he focused on getting closer, to figure out who it was that was there.

He soon saw the figure’s head. Or at least, part of it. He noticed pointed ears that were lowered. The head, which had an elongated muzzle, snapped back upon seeing him. Then he could hear them speak, their voice a bit coarse. “...Rudy...?”

The young teenager immediately froze at that voice. He had heard it only a few times, but it was enough that he’d remember it. He blinked his eyes slowly, rubbing them. Was this..? Could it be that...?

And when the figure stepped, no, limped out, moving out of the shadow, Rudy quickly realized that...

This was....

“You...?”


	28. Special Pet

Oh Marshall, dear. Can’t you see I’m winning...?  
-Marshall Dear, Savages

sss

“J-Jyker...?”

Rudy stared in shock at the trembling, limping form coming over towards him. The figure had stepped into the light by this point, making it easy for him to make out the details. It had only taken him a few seconds to recognzie this as Jyker, the hyena zoner who had stopped Sandra from hurting Snap further at the trial.

Several questions raced through his mind. Just how did Jyker end up here? When did Sandra have the time? And if he is here, was there anyone else? Was there some other things that Sandra did that he wasn’t aware of? These questions and more crowded up inside of his mind, making him shudder.

“I-I...I didn’t expect to have any..c-company..” Jyker’s weak voice stated. He gave a few weak coughs as he moved a little closer. Each step seemed shakier than the last. “H-How did you get here...?”

“The same way as you did, I’m sure.” Rudy replied in a low voice. He tried his best not to sound too bitter; he wasn’t really sure if Jyker really wanted, or needed, to hear that right now.

His eyes moved up and down Jyker’s form a few times, taking note of his injuries. Jyker was definitely not in tact. He looked pretty bad off. Multiple gashes and bruises. His expression looked rather defeated, and he looked as if he was going to cry at any moment. Even his voice sounded as though he had given up on life. It made Rudy wonder just what the hell that Sandra had put him through.

He did not understand their full story together. But he did recall that Jyker did know Sandra from before. In fact, he had known her for longer than they did. He had a confrontation with her before and he was the reason that she left her old town or something. But now it seemed as though the tables had turned...

Rudy crawled over closer to Jyker. He wasn’t sure why he kept on crawling closer. Something was just...compelling him to keep moving forward, to keep trying to get closer to the injured zoner. There was little that he could do while he was on the ground like this. But...he could at least try something, right? There was no harm in doing that, was there? And besides, he was the Great Creator. It was his responsiblity to...

“Please don’t s-s-strain yourself...Rudy.” Jyker finally spoke, raising his hand up. Rudy froze where he was, staring at Jyker with blinking eyes. “I-I...I don’t want to be a burden..”

Rudy shook his head, his neck still craned so that he could see Jyker’s face. “No, I..” It did pain him to see Jyker like this. He did not know him well, but to see him this way, when before he had been a lot more confident...it just caused his heart to twist. He was another testimony to Sandra’s cruelty. More proof that Sandra needed to be stopped as soon as possible. “It’s not a problem, really.”

But Jyker didn’t seem to want to have it. Taking another trembling step forward, he said, in a more stern voice, “I mean it. Please just... s-s-s-stop. D-D-Don’t try to help me. You can’t help me... You no chalk. We are t-t-t-trapped.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes slightly. “How would you know if I had no chalk?”

Jyker gave a small chortle at this, his teeth slightly bared. “Because, if you did have it, you would have used it by now, wouldn’t you?”

At this, the teeanger stiffened up. That did make a lot of sense, he had to admit. Perfect sense. Jyker was right. He would have gotten the magic chalk out at this point if he had any. It was no wonder that Jyker caught on so quickly. He was quite the observant fellow. A part of him wondered if this was how he was able to see through Sandra’s lies before.

Reluctantly, Rudy stopped crawling over. Though disappointed and feeling some heartache at not being able to help, he did feel a sense of relief when he wasn’t forcing himself to crawl around like he did before. His arms were certainly grateful. Laying himself down on his side, he began to rub his arms, gently massaging them. Such a relief. He spent a few moments doing this before he stopped and started to think about their current situation.

He rubbed his head a little as he realized that he had remembered something wrong. Maybe it was due to all that was happening, and the tension and anxiety, but he realized that he hadn’t heard Jyker at the trial. He knew he was there and what he said based on what his friends had told him. But this had to have been during when he had been bed-ridden at the hospital. He recalled that he had actually heard his voice when he was searching around the city with Ripclaw.

...back when he could walk...

Rudy felt a sting in his chest. Almost any memory from before the Sandra incident made him shudder. It was just..so painful to recall the times back when he wasn’t ridden to the wheelchair. When he didn’t feel like a burden...when he was claim more freedom than what he had now.

Rudy looked down at his legs. His still in tact but utterly useless legs. He stared at them long and hard, noting the red marks on them from the dragging. He reached over and lightly touched one of the reddest spots. There was no reaction other than very slight pringle. And even that, he wasn’t really sure if he felt, or if he was just imagining it. Even as he moved his hand up and down the leg, trying to see if he could feel something...anything, there was just...nothing except for the very, very slightest of sensations.

He tried to move his legs. He stared at them, concentrating, and tried with all of his might to move them. Maybe if he kept on focusing on them, he might be able to move them at least a little bit. He just had to keep trying hard enough. He might be able to will his legs into moving. He...

But it was useless. His legs just wouldn’t move save for a few small twitches. Other than those small movements, his legs were just...they might as well be stumps. Or not there at all. They served his body no more purpose. A part of him almost wished that the doctors had removed the legs. What good were they for him if he could not use them? All they did was just bitterly remind him of what had happened.

He felt a surge of anger and bitterness rise up inside of him. He wasn’t able to stop it. He could feel it burning through his body, making him shake. He gritted his teeth tightly and he growled, staring intently at the bars that were keeping him and Jyker inside. With a low hiss escaping from his mouth, he just..had to do something. Anything....

Looking over, he could see a metal pole on the ground. It looked slightly bloodied. He realized that it must have been what Sandra used to hurt Jyker. He felt a brief moment of hesitation before he reached over and grabbed onto it. He yanked it forward and he held it up into the air. He stared at it for several moments before he turned to glare at the metal bars. Seething through his clenched teeth, he began to strike against the bars.

He repeated this over and over again. Despite the fact that striking the bars did not do anything other than make his ears ring, he still kept on hitting it in desperation. Maybe if he kept on trying to hit it, he would eventually be able to break something down. Over and over again, he struck, feeling vibrations shoot through the metal pole, racing up his arm. He ignored this as he kept striking out in vain.

“Rudy... P-Please stop it!” Jyker covered his flattened ears with his hands. “Please, th-that hurts!”

Rudy froze as he stared over at Jyker. He soon noticed the expression on his face and he quickly realized that Jyker had much more sensitive hearing than he did. All this banging, it must be excruciating to the hyena zoner. Feeling a pang of guilt, the teenager dropped the pole to the ground.

“I’m so sorry, Jyker!” Rudy called out as he raised his hands up. “I-I didn’t mean to...! I...” He paused for a moment, watching as the zoner rubbed his ears vigorously. He licked his lips for a bit and swallowed hard. “I’m sorry...”

Jyker stared over at him. No words were spoken. He just...stared at him. There didn’t seem to be much anger from those eyes, but he could tell that Jyker was still not entirely happy with him. But at least he didn’t press anything on and he was, seemingly, willing to move past it. The hyena zoner shook his head once, as if trying to shake off the sensations, before settling down on the ground, crossing his legs, flinching in pain as he did so.

After a bit of awkward silence, Jyker said, “It is...n-n-nice to see that your neck healed up.”

Rudy felt a flash in the back of his mind. That single statement was enough to send flashbacks through his mind as he was forced to briefly relive when he had his neck broken. He could still see it in his mind. He could still feel those teeth in his neck. He could still feel the dull ache were the crack had taken place. He rubbed his throat slowly.

Jyker’s expression softened up in pity. “I do apologize if I brought back s-s-sour m-memories.” He turned his head away, his ears lowering. “I sometimes h-have that effect on people...”

Rudy wasn’t sure what he meant by that, but he decided not to press it any further. “It’s quite all right.” He remained silent for a bit, staring at Jyker. He looked over at where Sandra had gone off in, licking his lips slowly. He was going to be here a while, and he might as well use this time to ask a certain question to this guy. “Hey, Jyker. Mind if I ask something?”

“S-Sure. G-Go a-a-ahead.” Replied the injured hyena.

Rudy took in a slow, deep breath. He exhaled, taking his time. He wasn’t entirely sure how to approach this. But he did not want to keep Jyker waiting. Looking over at the hyena zoner, hesitating for a few seconds, Rudy eventually asked the question that was on his mind. “Do you know what Sandra is up to?”

Jyker’s eyes immediately widened.

sss

“Come back here, you cowards!” Mint shouted as he struggled as hard as he could. But the more he struggled, the more he seemed to just...sink into the ground. Though his heart raced, he still gritted his teeth at the fleeing zoners. “Why don’t you just fight us?!”

“Mint...stop.” Penny told him quietly. “They’re gone.”

Mint ignored her and he kept on shouting threats at the fleeing Beanie Boys. He screamed and he shouted on top of his lungs. He only stopped when he realized that his mouth was getting quite dry, and he could feel a dull ache in the back of his throat. He took in a few heavy pants, but now even the act of breathing was painful.

This didn’t stop him from glaring at the Beanie Boys as they kept getting further and further away. They were rapidly disappearing, and it didn’t take long before he did not see them at all. That didn’t stop him from continuing to glare, however. He just...really wanted to tear into them. If only they would come back and face him like any brave zoner would...

He didn’t keep this up for long, however. Eventually the reality of the situation weighed down upon him, and he had no choice but to fully come to terms with what had happened.

Sandra had decided that she did not want to risk keeping them around. She had told Rudy that she’d leave them alone if he surrendered to her. But of course, she never used ‘I promise’, so as soon as Rudy was out of the way, she had ordered the Beanie Boys to dispose of them. He and Penny put up a good fight and they had even managed to strike Sandra before she had a chance to stop them with her healing powers. Though they were still caught, landing any kind of blow against that monster was well worth it.

But this did not deter him from realizing that he was completely and utterly screwed. Not just him, but Penny as well. They were both trapped in this quicksand like substance, the ropes binding their arms tightly so they couldn’t even try to get out.

Not that having their arms would have done them much good anyway. They were in the middle of this quicksand place. And everything looked the same here. It was impossible to tell just where the quicksand began and where it ended. All he could feel was just...smooth sand. It was impossible to get any good traction and he was left feeling as though he were trying to swim through one of those ball pits. Only this ‘ball pit’ was just too fine for him to even get a chance to push himself to the surface if he were to go below the ground.

His legs were at least free. He pumped them as hard as he could, kicking down, using what knowledge he had of swimming to prevent himself from sinking down further. He tried the best that he could to keep his head above the quicksand. It was getting increasingly difficult and he could feel his head start to go down a little lower. But despite his difficulty, he still kept kicking his burning legs to delay the inevitable.

Penny was struggling just as much as he was. She looked as though she was having a little more trouble than him, however. He really wanted to go over and try to help her out himself. But he was unable to do anything. He gritted his teeth in frustration. He felt so useless right now. A part of him briefly wondered if this is how Rudy felt when he was not able to do anything to help them because of what stupid Sandra did to him.

His heart immediately clenched at this, making him freeze for a moment before he managed to get himself to resume his leg kicking. Speaking of Sandra and Rudy, he wondered...what was going on with them? And Snap, too?

Sandra had taken Rudy away from them, just like she had with Snap. She did not tell them what she planned for Snap and she did the same thing with Rudy. She just...kept them in the dark, making them suffer the pain of not knowing. Mint growled to himself, wanting nothing more than to give Sandra a good punch on the nose. Or even tear off a piece of her ear again like he had before. But he knew that this could make things worse, and he would have to opt for a better solution.

He just...didn’t know what that could be. Of course, he wanted to help Rudy and Snap, but he didn’t even know where they were taken to, or if they were... He hesitated for a moment at the next thought. It took him a few seconds to actually finish what he was thinking.

He didn’t know if they were alive or not.

Sandra hated both of them. The reasons varied, but in the end, she hated the two of them and she would want to do whatever it took to get rid of them. She thought Snap was a traitor and she regarded Rudy as a monster. Rather humorous considering that she was the one who was actually both of these. But in the end, these reasons were, in her eyes, enough that both of them would surely deserve death. And who knows how long she’d allow them to live before she...

Mint shook his head, struggling to keep himself focused. He had to try to get out of here. He had to keep fighting back against this quick sand. He just had to. Maybe if he kept on fighting, he would be able to get out. He just...

Unfortunately, his legs just wouldn’t keep up. He tried and he tried, but they were getting too worn. With his muscles feeling like they were on fire, kicking out in desperation, he could tell that his movements were getting stiffer and stiffer. It was becoming increasingly difficult to do anything. He did keep trying, but it became increasingly obvious that he would not able to keep this up for long. With his mouth open and tongue partially out, panting, he was starting to slow down considerably. This realization did make his heart race and a flash of adrenaline allowed him to return to his original speed...only for him to get drained quickly and lose that speed just as swiftly as he had gained it.

“Mint!” Penny shouted. She gave a few coughs. “Keep...trying to hold your head up! Don’t quit!”

Mint turned his head and he gasped in horror at what he saw. Penny had already sunk quite far into the quicksand. It had already covered most of her neck and she was rapidly going down. She was wriggling her way about, trying to keep herself up. But he could tell that she was rapidly losing strength and she was going down steadily faster.

Mint tried to keep himself up. He tried to keep his stiffening legs kicking, pushing against the sloshy sand, trying to keep his head above the quicksand. But no matter how hard he tried, he could feel himself weakening even more. He could feel the quicksand already covering up his neck, and now he could feel it on his face.

His heart immediately began to race at this. He could feel each beat pounding against his chest. He took in faster breaths, trying to pull in as much oxygen as he could. He thrashed harder in the quicksand. This only seemed to make him sink faster, but his panicking mind refused to fully acknowledge this. It just wanted out, and it drove him to struggle increasingly frantically, even though this was only going to lead to his demise faster.

He could no longer tell if Penny was still with him or not. He was unaware if she was under the sands or still struggling like him. His racing mind was not able to process her. At that moment, the only thing that he could think of was himself, and getting himself out of here. If he were relaxed, more realizing what was going on, he might have felt guilt for only thinking of himself. Just, in those painfully long minutes, he just could not think of her, could not realize that she was still there.

Suddenly, it felt as though the only thing around him was himself and the sand that held him down. His eyes widened, going wild with emotion, as he felt more of his face be covered. He stared upward at the sky, the sun being the only source of light for him, everything else being pitch black. He breathed in and out quicker and quicker as he continued to pump his legs harder. He struggled to get his face further up. But it only continued to sink down lower and lower...

No, this couldn’t be happening. This isn’t how it should have ended. He had to keep fighting. He had to keep trying to get his face above the sand. This wasn’t fair... How could things have gone down this way? How could he have allowed it to end up like this?

With his heart still pumping fast, cold emotion burning through his veins, Mint did not give up on struggling. His legs felt as if they would break off at any point. But that did not stop him from continuing to try. He wouldn’t give up. He had to keep going, no matter what. He...

His face started to be covered up by the sand. This caused his heart to nearly explode as a wave of panicked emotions raced through his body. He could feel a final bout of adrenaline rage inside and he frantically tried to push himself up. But the sand kept covering up his face and he could feel it moving over his mouth. He coughed and he spluttered, trying to get a breath. But when even his nose started to be covered, he realized that his efforts...they might all be in vain. He might not be able to get out of here.

In what he felt were his final few moments, he closed his eyes and he could sense his life flashing before him. He sucked in a final, shaky breath as the sand over took him. And now his eyes were being covered. It would only be a matter of moments before he succumbed. And all he could do was just...wait.

Suddenly, he heard a loud shout ring through the air. It was a little distorted thanks to the sand covering his ears. But he could still hear it loud and clear.

“Hold on, you two! I’m coming!”

He had no idea who the voice belonged to. It sounded so familiar. But he just...could not quite pinpoint it. He shifted his eyes left and right as he tried to find this person. He did not get a chance to see before the sand started to get too close to his eyes and he was forced to shut them to keep the sand from getting inside.

This did not last very long. Before he could think of what was happening, he felt someone grabbing into him. He could hear the splashing sound of the quick sand being kicked as someone must have swum over and got a hold of him. Mint did not dare open his eyes, not even when he heard Penny grunt and splutter and cough as she, too, was grabbed. Mint just held still as the figure started to drag the two of them back.

It was only when he felt himself hit against hard, firm land, his body no longer coated in that wet, sandy mess, did he start to splutter himself. He coughed and wheezed on the ground, taking in several quick breaths. He could feel his body shivering once the emotions started to settle in, and he found it difficult to stop himself. Even when he felt something cut the ropes from his body, he still did not move.

Opening his eyes, he squinted for a moment as the bright light struck him. Then he shifted his head back a little and stared over at where Penny was. He could see her laying upon the ground on her side. Her arms, no longer bound, were splayed over each other on the ground as she took in rapid, painful-sounding gasps of air. His heart raced as he watched her suffer like this, and his mind started to have a few burning flashes when he thought about Sandra.

Pushing himself up onto his arms, he craned his head over to see just who had saved them. His eyes widened when he immediately recognized the bird-like figure before them.

“D-Dr. Crobat...?” Mint let out a loud, pained cough. “H-How did you find us...?”

Dr. Crobat stared down at them, his expression softened up with concern. “It doesn’t matter right now, does it? At least I found you in time.” Dr. Crobat leaned in closer, his eyes examining his body quickly. “If you had sunk in any further, you would have...”

“Yes, we know.” Mint cut him off. Right now, he did not need to hear the gruesome detail of how he almost died. There were other matters pressing into his mind, anyway. “We...We need to go back to... We need to save...”

“Shh...try to rest, okay?” Dr. Crobat laid a hand on his shoulder. “You need to spend a little while recovering first.”

Penny coughed and spluttered before she spoke, her voice a slight wheeze. “B-But you don’t understand. Our friends are...”

“I am fully aware of that. But we can’t argue about that now. First you need to rest. Then we will continue from here. I will help you. Don’t worry. But first, you need to recover.” Dr. Crobat’s voice was gentle but firm. He narrowed his eyes at them, showing them that he was quite serious in what he was saying.

Mint and Penny looked at each other. Their minds were still racing from nearly drowning in sand. At the same time, they were filled with confusion and impatience. They could not understand how Dr. Crobat could have known the situation, but their fear of what was happening with their friends overshadowed this fact. The only thing that was on their minds was trying to get out of here as soon as they could so that they could help.

But they felt so weak. Their bodies were too shaky. They realized that Dr. Crobat was right. They can’t really do much if their legs were so wobbly like jello, it was going to collapse the moment they tried to get up. They needed to wait. A few minutes, that’s all. Just a few minutes...

Then they could figure out what they were going to do from here. They could only hope that their friends could hand on. Just for a little while... They could do it, they were sure. Then soon, Sandra would pay.

sss

Sandra moved down the hallway slowly, taking her time. There was really no need to rush right now. She had plenty of time at the moment. Mint and Penny had been dealt with and Rudy was trapped. The Beanie Boys were still under her control and Skrawl was utterly broken. There was no one to really get in her way right now. Yes, she could take all the time in the world.

So she just kept on walking, her tail swishing slowly behind her, her eyes staring out ahead of her. She could see her destination rapidly approaching. Indeed, it would only take a short amount of time before she would reach her goal: the door that led to the room where Snap was trapped.

She had thought about delaying this a little longer. She had wanted to drag things out more. But she was getting a little impatient. She wanted to speed things along a little. Get the ball rolling, you know? She couldn’t continue wasting her time doing nothing. No, she needed to get shit done. If she was going to succeed in what she now wanted from Rudy and from Snap...

But..she would give Snap a bit of a chance. Speak to him for a little while as she tried to contemplate on what she wanted to do with him. It was only fair, right? They had been friends before. Surely she could be a little fair with him and give him a chance. And besides, that didn’t mean that she still couldn’t have her fun with him. Nothing wrong with that, right?

But she wouldn’t tell Snap what she had in mind. If she did that, it would only make him freak out more. She wouldn’t be surprised if he straight up punched her in the face once he heard. She knew it was best to just keep her mouth shut about it, and let him try to figure out just what she was talking about.

Admittingly, her plan might seem to go a little...too far, to say the very least. And a part of her was even a little disgusted by it. But hey, if it got her full control over Snap, she’d do it. Her end goals were most important; she should be able to handle any discomfort that she encountered along the way. Otherwise, how would she be able to save this world from such sin?

It didn’t take her that long to reach the door. She stopped in front of it for a moment, staring at it. She pondered what Snap was doing inside. This didn’t really require a lot of imagination. What could that blue and white zoner do other than just lay there and whimper like the coward that he was? With a small smile on her face, she pushed the door open and she headed inside.

After locking the door and making her way over towards the kennel, she could see that Snap was resting on the ground, curled up. It looked almost as if he were asleep, but she knew better than that. She could sense that he was still awake and he was just trying to pretend that he wasn’t here. Oh how cute.

“Greetings, Snap.” Sandra spoke up, breaking the silence quickly.

Snap immediately shifted himself around to look at her. His eyes bulged wide open and he cringed back away from her, letting out a low, soft whimper from his throat. Sandra smirked at how his body trembled from the mere sight of her. Snap sure learned quickly.

“Wh-What do you want...?” Snap spoke softly.

Sandra’s ear twitched for a moment when he detected that tone of voice. Snap wasn’t just afraid. There was something else. Something like..shock? She wasn’t sure why at first. But then she quickly figured something out. With her smile spreading further, she said, “I just wanted to say hello to my ‘dear little friend’.. Is that so wrong?” She took a step towards the shaking Snap. “Besides....there is something that we need to discuss.”

“I thought you were getting me food...” There was a sound similar to disappointment on the zoner’s voice. “I’m...hungry...”

Sandra turned her head and body slightly to the side, waving her hand dismissively. “Oh don’t worry about that! You will be fine for a little while longer, right?” She shrugged her shoulders. “And besides...” She lowered her head, her grin becoming slightly dark and maniacal. “You did enjoy my flavor, didn’t you?” Upon seeing Snap’s horrified expression, Sandra pressed on. “Oh you don’t have to be so modest, Snap. I know you liked my salty blood taste. Quite good, right?”

Snap shook his head. “N-No, I...”

“I can tell that you are lying, Snap. Please, do not lie to me.” Sandra’s eyes narrowed dangerously. “I do not like liars.”

“B-But I’m not lying...” Snap licked his lips nervously. “It made me want to throw up.”

Sandra cocked an eyebrow at this. It was not hard for her to detect the lies on Snap’s voice. The hesitation. He did like how she tasted; he was just not willing to admit it. Snap did not want to ever admit that he was wrong. He was just stubborn like that.

But while she could ignore this before, not anymore. She was going to address this stubbornness one way or another. It was high time that Snap started to see things her way. And if she had to do it by force, then, well...so be it. She was not going to allow this to continue for any longer. She had all the time in the world right now, and she was going to use it to make Snap see just how wrong he had been. One way or another...

A part of her hoped that Snap went down easily. She would hate to do what she did with Skrawl, to Snap. Such an extreme measure. It did work in getting what she wanted. But it was such a demoralizing thing to do, something that even she would admit was going a bit too far.

But she could not allow things to fall down further than they already were. She could not allow this world to suffer any longer. If she were able to turn things around, then...

“I know you liked how I tasted, Snap. I saw the look in your eyes. And you should not be ashamed of that. That is the first time to realizing the honor it is to eat a friend.” Sandra paused for a moment. “Well, we may not be...friends...per say anymore, but we do know each other, so I suppose it counts. And of course, we could be something...more.” Sandra’s head was tilted to one side. “What do you say?”

Snap bared his teeth weakly, as if to try to scare her off. “D-Don’t you fucking dare...”

“Oh but you don’t even know what I’m talking about.” Sandra feigned shock and surprise. She quickly went back to smiling at him, her tail continuing to twitch about, feeling the muscles eager to strike something out of slight irritation. “Do not deny the truth that has been handed to you, Snap.” With her body hunching, Sandra began to move in closer towards the cage. “You know that I speak the truth. You like my taste and that is an honorable thing. You...”

“Go jump off a cliff!” Snap shouted suddenly, taking Sandra by surprise and even shocking himself. Snap still glared at her, however, panting heavily as his mind was surely swirling.

Sandra shook her head, eyes closed, giving off a small sigh. “It saddens me to see you like this, Snap. You have so much potential. So much to look forward to...” She reopened her eyes and glared at Snap. “But you still continue to hold onto this ridiculous beliefs.” She raised her hand up in gesture, ignoring Snap’s glaring. “I suppose you still think that promises are meant to be broken, right?”

Snap bared his teeth at this. “I never said that.”

Sandra raised her ears at this. “So you agree with me then?”

Snap shook his head. “I do think it’s a good idea to keep promises. But sometimes, they have to be broken. Sometimes things just come up and...”

Sandra found her foot kicking against the bars faster than she could stop it. The loud banging sound was enough to make Snap jump into the air and fall back onto the ground. On his back, he stared up at her in shock and fear, breathing shakingly as he put his arms in front of him, as if to protect himself from some kind of unforeseen attack.

“It doesn’t matter! Once you make a promise, you must keep it! The one you promised for, they trust you! And if you break that promise, you are breaking their trust as well!” Sandra felt her heart start to burn, her blood’s temperature rising up. “If they break one promise, they will break more! And if they have the guts to break a promise, then how could they be trusted outside of that?! Why should you bother to trust them anymore at all?!”

Snap didn’t attempt to answer. He just stared at her in fear, his eyes bulging wide and his mouth dropping open. He didn’t even attempt to get up; it was almost like he could not move.

And all the while, Sandra just kept ranting at him. She was not sure of how much time had passed; only that she was still yelling at Snap, even after a good while went by.

“No matter what, the sanctity of the promise must be held above all else! If something happened, you need to remember that you had a previous committment! There’s no way around this! In the end, you still made a commitment and your attention should be diverted there! Where it belongs! If you cannot do that for your dear friends or families, then you are worthless! And you should die on the filthy ground were all promise breakers belong!”

Sandra panted heavily after the end of her little rant. She did feel a little better in shouting like that. Not that Snap liked it; the little zoner was shivering in fright. Not that she cared, however. If the little fucker still thought that breaking promises are a good thing, then he most certainly deserved to get yelled at.

She shook herself off, feeling the sensation leaving her fingers. She leaned her head back and let off a long, deep sigh. She couldn’t let herself get too worked up over this. She wouldn’t be able to fulfill her mission if she was too angry. And besides, it was...almost humorous, the way that Snap reacted. Not just in fear, but the whole thing, how he kept on insisting that promises could be broken. How simply naive and foolish...

Sandra walked the rest of the way up to the kennel. She pulled the latch out and released it, allowing the door to swing open. As soon as it did, Snap, who was obviously desperate to get away, immediately bolted towards the door. He only stopped because of the thing that she did to his heart. He dropped down onto his knees, clutching his chest in agony.

Sandra walked towards him slowly, her red eyes boring straight through his soul. She grabbed onto his cape and lifted him up into the air. Snap dangled there helplessly, staring down at her in horror. Any attempt to look brave from before was gone, replaced with nothing but fear.

“It is amazing that, even after all this time, you are still so...resilient.” Sandra commented as she stared at his dangling form for a few seconds, her eyes moving up and down quickly. The desire she felt from before was getting stronger and she didn’t know how long she could hold out. But patience was a virtue. She’d get what she wanted soo enough. “I wonder, what will it take to break you?” She narrowed her eyes and tilted her head as she said this.

Snap struggled at this, sensing the tone on her voice. Despite the pain in his chest, he kept on struggling. Sandra narrowed her eyes at this and she concentrated. She could not having him kill himself by mistake. So for now, her little ‘curse’ on him was lifted. If she needed to use it on him again, she would.

Reaching out, she grabbed his chin tightly, her feather fingers pressing up against his flesh. She pulled his head forward, putting her face close to his. Snap looked up at her in fear, a low whimper escaping his throat. “What will it take to make you see things...my way?” Upon noticing that Snap wasn’t trying to respond, she continued, “No answer?” She tilted her head to the other side, her smile broadening. “Oh don't worry, we have all the time in the world. I will find out eventually...”

Snap shook his head in desperation. “P-Please...let me go...! Let me go back to my friends!”

“Oh but Snap, you had exchanged yourself for their sake...” Sandra leaned in even closer. “Remember...? There are no take backs.” Sandra stroked his face lightly with her free hand. She felt the coldness of his tears, though showed no reaction to them. She just kept looking into Snap’s eyes, seeing a rainbow of emotions moving through those eyes. “You belong to me now...and don’t worry about having to wait too long. I think I know what will help you more willing to see things my way...”

“Wh-What are you going to do...?” Snap whimpered.

Sandra didn’t bother to answer. She just grinned down at him before she started to carry him over towards her bed. Though Snap couldn’t possibly know what she had planned for him, he started to panic. He squirmed about in the air, grabbing onto her hand and trying to push it back. This did little more than make Sandra chuckle and she continued bringing him ever closer to the bed.

Once she got close enough, she threw him onto the soft, blanket-covered mattress. Snap rolled once from the force, landing on his back, partially upside down due to landing up against the head rest. He opened his eyes and he stared over at her. Gritting his teeth, sucking in a sharp breath, Snap attempted to flee, getting up and trying to jump off.

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. Only a few seconds later, Snap dropped back down onto the bed, clutching at his stomach, whimpering in pain. She kept this pain going long enough so that she could get up onto the bed herself. And once she was on the bed, when she stopped hurting him, her foot rammed up against his stomach, irritating that spot that she had been messing with. Snap struggled, but he was unable to get her off of him.

“You are still so tense, Snap. I thought I told you before to try to relax a little. But don’t worry. I think I know of a way that I could...help you relax.” Sandra grabbed onto Snap’s shoulders and held him down more firmly. “Now just close your eyes....”

Sandra pressed her lips against Snap’s. Even though this hadn’t been the first time that she did this, it still felt just as good as the first time she did it. She had no idea why she liked this. Wasn’t she supposed to hate Snap? Yet here she was, giving him another kiss...

Not that she was complaining all that much. It did seem to cause Snap some distress, so there was that. And if she could get him to shift to her line of thinking....

Sandra felt her head being knocked eskew when Snap managed to slap her. She froze up for a couple of seconds, her eyes widening at this show of defense. She looked down at Snap. Despite the fact that he must have been frozen in terror, Snap still found a way to fight back. She slowly narrowed her eyes, her smile broadening as it darkened. Of course he would still fight back. He still had some of that spirit of his left.

Which is why she had to take the next step. If it worked on Skrawl, it would work on Snap. Perhaps even more so than it did with the jellybean. She pulled her lips back into a grinning snarl as she thought of this action. As disturbing as it was....she did look forward to it. Such things had their uses in a time like this.

“Oh no need to get all feisty, Snap. It will be all right. It will all be over soon...” Sandra reached her head down and nuzzled him gently, her cheek pressed up against his. “Just let me do the work and you can just lay there like a good little zoner. And once I’m done, maybe you will be more..inclined into doing what I say.” She opened her jaws and she licked along Snap’s neck and cheek again like she had a few times before. “How about it, Snap?”

“F-Fuck yourself!” Snap’s desperate voice called out. His eyes widened as he said this, filled with raw terror as his heart must surely be pounding. “I don’t care what you do to me! I will never bow down to you!”

Sandra tilted her head to one side. “Are you so sure about that? You don’t even know what I have planned for you, my dear little Snacks.” Sandra could feel Snap struggle with what remained of his strength, the rest of it burnt out from struggling and emotion from before. “But I will let you find out...”

Snap bared his teeth at this. He squirmed from side to side the best that he could, letting out a series of loud shouts. But despite his attempts, Snap was just too weak to get himself free. His weak attempts to get away were just so amusing. And eventually he seemed to just run out as he collapsed against the bed. Sandra had a feeling that he would resume struggling once she started to do what she intended. The same thing that she did with Skrawl... But even then, Snap would not be able to get free. He had warn himself out too much.

And this was a good time to make her move. While he was still in a weakened, helpless state.

“Come on, dear Snap. Let’s go ahead and have a little...fun.” Sandra lowered her head closer towards his once more. Her eyes were half way open, a smug smile on her face. Snap resumed trying to struggle, though his efforts were a little weaker from before. Sandra chuckled at this. “Oh dear Snacks, it won’t be that bad. Just close your eyes...”

“No!” Snap shouted.

“Like you have a choice.” Sandra narrowed her eyes for a moment before she grabbed into his cape and yanked him forward, lifting Snap partially off the bed. Her tail wrapped around him lightly, pressing up against him. She lightly traced his cheek and chin. “Now...let’s get started, my little ‘guest’...”

The room soon filled with Snap’s panicked, horrified screams.


	29. A Trust That Is Contested

It hurts to say your name. How could you do this and walk away?  
-Liars Inc, Freakhouse

sss

“Come on! We are almost there!” Dr. Crobat shouted back at the children. He had stopped for a moment in order to let them catch up. “Keep up the pace!”

Penny opened her mouth and panted heavily. She struggled to take in a breath, trying to keep up with the zoner that was leading them down this path. She tried not to glare at him. She understood the urgency and she couldn’t really blame him for wanting to go fast. But sheesh, he could at least give them some time to catch up with him.

Mint was having some trouble as well. And why shouldn’t he? Why shouldn’t they? Dr. Crobat wasn’t the one who was stuck in the quick sand. He was not the one who had been struggling to get up to the surface and try to breathe. He was completely fine, from the looks of it. He should be taking that into consideration.

“We’re doing the best that we can, Dr. Crobat!” Penny called back to him. She gave a few heavy pants before she continued. “We’re trying to keep up!”

“Well try harder! You know you can’t stay out here for that long!” The bird-like zoner called out to her. There was a slight impatient tone in his voice, something that made Penny flinch. “I don’t want you captured again!”

Penny let out a groan and she struggled to quicken her pace. It was a little difficult keeping it up, however. Especially considering the fact that, well, she, and surely Mint as well, was still affected by the quicksand situation earlier. Her body felt weak and shaky. Her throat still ached as she had accidentally breathed in a little bit of sand. Adrenaline may have left her body, but she was still afflicted by its affects.

She still could not believe just how close she had come to dying. It would have been so easy, too. All she had to do was stay under long enough and she would have...

This was a surprisingly smart move, but not something she did not expect from Sandra. She clearly wanted them out of the way. She was taking no chances this time. She wanted to make sure that anyone standing in her way was stopped. And she was trying to do that with her and Mint the most permanent way possible: by killing them.

She lifted her head and looked out ahead, beyond Dr. Crobat, who was walking in front of them. She was not sure just how long they had been walking. But she knew that they had covered quite the distance. She could already see the distant shape of that hideout they were in coming into view. Despite what Dr. Crobat said, they still had some distance to go. It would take a little while before they got there. The sooner they did, the better. So she pressed on, moving herself as quickly across the ground as she could.

She turned her head to make sure that Mint was able to keep up as well. He was moving along mostly okay, though his legs were a bit shakier and more wobbly than she herself was walking. She narrowed her eyes slightly in concern. She looked back at Dr. Crobat for a moment, a bit miffed that he hadn’t offered to help Mint. That was strange, but she dismissed it due to the tension of the situation.

She moved back and stood right next to Mint. She looked at him, noting his confused expression. She then moved in closer and grabbed onto his arm, looping it across her shoulder. “Here, let me help you.” She said as she steadied herself, allowing Mint to use her to keep himself from falling over. “I think this will help things go a little faster.”

Mint looked at in her shock, clearly not expecting this gesture. “Um..thanks. I..hope I am not...”

Penny shook her head. “No, it’s not a problem at all!” She gave him a gentle smile before she started to move forward, carefully helping Mint along with her. “Now let’s get going before Dr. Crobat leaves us behind...”

They continued on their way, trying to stay close behind Dr. Crobat the best that they could. With her helping Mint, they were able to keep up a relatively good pace, keeping themselves from falling to far behind. It was a little hard at times to keep Mint from falling, but all in all, they were making good progress. Penny didn’t mind holding up his weight. Compared to what she did for her mother, this was almost nothing to her.

She narrowed her eyes as she tried to think of what they were going to do when they got back to the hideout. She hadn’t noticed any Beanie Boys on patrol, but that did not mean that they weren’t there. Or Sandra... She might be occasionally flying around, looking to see if there were any intruders. And who is to say that she wasn’t going to check on the quick sand trap to make sure they were absolutely dead?

They would need to be very careful. They would have to find another way in. Sandra might have figured out how they got in and had some kind of security in place there. They would also need to figure out just how they were going to defend themselves, and how they were going to find Rudy and Snap and rescue them. Even with Dr. Crobat helping them, it was not going to be an easy task. They were going to need to really think about this before they even tried to re-enter this place.

They continued their trek forward. They kept close behind Dr. Crobat as they made their way. Up and down the tough terrain, moving around and over rocks, whatever they needed to do. Despite getting gradually closer, it still felt like it was taking forever, and she felt herself start to pant heavier, causing her throat to hurt a little more.

She wasn’t sure how much more time had passed at this point. She would imagine that they had walked at least another fifteen to twenty minutes. Maybe even longer than that. It was so hard to tell when the sun never moved. She could still feel it beating down on her, making her feet hotter. She normally could handle this, but she hadn’t been stuck in the desert for this long having to carry something heavy with her while having to keep a quick pace to get somewhere as quickly as possible. This was so draining on her.

She started to feel an ache in her shoulder. She hadn’t realized that she had been walking a while with Mint. She hadn’t walked this much with heavy things for her mother. Despite her pain, however, she still kept in going, keeping her grip on Mint secure.

But she wasn’t able to pull it off for long. It wasn’t that it was causing her extreme pain or anything. It was just..she was not used to having so much pressure centered at one point like this. Mint was heavier than she was, after all. And to have him lean on her like this for so long... She couldn’t stop her legs from starting to buckle slightly and she was wobbling a little to the side, despite her efforts to keep herself from falling over.

“Penny?” Mint grabbed onto her and held her up, keeping her from falling over. “Are you okay?”

Penny nodded her head slowly. “Y-Yeah...I’m fine. I...”

“Don’t lie to me. I can tell you are having a hard time standing up. Please, let me help you.” Mint moved in closer, attempting to loop Penny’s arm over him. When the girl pulled it away, he narrowed his eyes. “Penny, don’t fool around like this. We need to get going or...”

“I told you I’m fine!” Penny tried to wriggle away from him. When she managed, she walked a couple feet away. “See? I’m...” Penny suddenly felt weak in her legs and she nearly toppled over.

“Penny!” Mint called out as he rushed to her side. He grabbed onto her arm and held onto it. He helped her to the ground, onto her knee. “You see? Something is wrong! What did...” His eyes suddenly wideend and it was easy to read the guilt on his face. “It’s because of me, right?” He spoke in a soft tone of voice. “You helping me for that long...you overexerted yourself. I’m...” He placed a hand to himself. “I’m so sorry, I...”

Penny shook her head. “No, it’s all right. I just...” She seethed as she placed a hand on her forehead. “I’m just not used to moving heavy things in the heat for this long without rest or water..” She widened her eyes and she stared at Mint, realizing what she said. “I’m not implying that you are fat or anything.”

Mint smiled gently. “Don’t worry. I know exactly what you mean.” His more serious expression returned. “Are you sure that you can keep walking?”

Penny nodded her head. “Y-Yeah, I think I....”

“We can rest, you know.” Mint offered.

“But our friends..” Her eyes widened.

“I know. But you won’t be of any good to them if you exert yourself to death, now would you?” Mint reached over and touched her shoulder. “It will be all right. Five minutes won’t hurt. I seriously doubt it’s going to make that much of a difference.”

Penny flinched at this. “I do hope you are right..”

“Hey, what’s the hold up?!”

Penny and Mint flinched at that almost harsh tone of voice. They looked over and they saw Dr. Crobat coming back towards them. His eyes were a little narrowed and he looked less than pleased. Strangest of all is that he did not seem to acknowledge that she was tired. Perhaps he really was just anxious about this whole thing, but still...

“We can’t be sitting around here! We need to get to that castle!” Barked Dr. Crobat, raising a wing up towards the air. “You know very well what could happen if we don’t get there in time!”

Mint nodded his head almost stiffly. “Yes, but...” He looked over and stared at Penny. “She needs just a little bit of rest. She overworked herself.” He looked back at Dr. Crobat. “Surely a few minutes wouldn’t hurt.”

Dr. Crobat gritted his teeth. “I don’t care! We are not wasting time!” He glared down at Penny. “Get up now before I make you get up! And hurry it along! Time is a wasting and there is no time for stragglers like you!”

This caused the two teenagers to immediately freeze, their eyes widening as they stared at the zoner in utter shock. They fell silent, unable to say anything. The only thing they could do is stare, their minds swirling around as they tried to process just what happened.

Penny’s initial reaction was hurt. How could Dr. Crobat say something like that about her? Wasn’t he supposed to be her friend? Or at the very least, an ally? And he was a doctor for crying out loud. He shouldn’t be saying stuff like this about those he is with who are injured or uncomfortable. He should be asking if she is okay and trying to help her feel better, not suddenly treat her like she was nothing. Just...how could he do this...?

Her next reaction was anger. It took her all her energy not to frown at him. She did not want to escalate things of course. But the fact that he was acting this way at all... She couldn’t help but feel a sting of disappiontment. She would have expected better from this guy.

It seemed Mint could not keep himself still or quiet or long. Penny turned her head to watch him as he started to take a few steps forward. She felt her heart twist as she repeated over and over in her head about Mint being careful. Though she could not get herself to raise her voice enough to actually speak those words.

Mint stood in front of her, glaring intently at Dr. Crobat. The stand off between the two was quite tense. There hadn’t been any words spoken yet, but Penny could just feel how thick everything was getting. She wanted to say something, but she ended up just remaining quiet and watching from the ground, wondering what was going to happen next.

For the next several moments, Mint was utterly silent. He glared intently at the bird zoner, small fists forming in his head. Dr. Crobat looked equally irritated. His beak gritted a little and he pulled his head back, looking as if he wanted to shout again. Mint remained a little calmer looking, though Penny was not sure how long that was going to last. And when she saw Mint move a little closer, she feared the worst.

Mint clenched his teeth and gave a soft seethe for a moment, and then he opened his mouth and, at last, he finally spoke. He managed to keep his voice low and calm, despite the fact that he was clearly still angry. “Are you feeling all right....” He turned his head to the side. “...doctor...?”

Dr. Crobat took a small step back. “I have no idea why you’re even asking that. Look, we need to get going, and we can’t be...”

Mint cut him off. “I ask you again. Are you feeling okay?”

Dr. Crobat growled under his breath. He placed one of his wings against his head and shook it. “And I don’t know why you’re asking! Of course I’m not fine! We’re standing around here, wasting precious time, when we should be moving!”

“I see...” Mint nodded his head slowly. It was almost incredible the way that he was able to remain calm during this. Penny would have thought that he’d raise his voice. But no, Mint’s voice remained as soft as ever. “Well, it’s just that... I’ve seen you under pressure before and you’ve always had remained calm. Or at least, calmer than this.” He motioned his hand towards the bird. “I’m just wondering if you feeling unwell. Surely something must be going on for you to act so...snippy.”

“What?! Me? Snippy?!” Howled Dr. Crobat, his voice raising in volume. “I-I’m not the one who is snippy! You are!” He pointed a feather in the teen’s direction. “You are the one who is deliberately stalling for time! Are you hiding anything?!”

Mint calmly shook his head. “I can assure you that I am not.” His eyes narrowed slightly. “I think something is wrong. I don’t think you would be acting like this if there wasn’t. So tell me, Dr. Crobat...” Mint paused for a moment, staring intently into the bird’s eyes. “What is wrong with you?”

Dr. Crobat’s feathers ruffled up for a moment. “Nothing is wrong with me! You...You Enemy Creator!”

Penny took in a sharp gasp of breath at this. She put her hand over her mouth, unable to believe what she just heard. She could feel her heart racing in her chest, twisting slightly, a sickening feeling rushing through her gut. Dr. Crobat...would never say something like that...would he? She just...this didn’t make any sense. She looked up at Mint, trying to see his expression.

From this angle, she could not see much. But she was able to see enough that Mint had noticeably flinched at the comment. He remained still, however, doing nothing to respond just yet. If anything, he looked...like he had expected that comment. But..how?

Then, after several moments of silence, Mint spoke through a slightly gritted mouth, “You....are not Dr. Crobat. Are you...?”

Penny’s eyes bulged at this. She stared at Mint in shock, wondering how he could have made such an accusation. But then, it all started to make sense. Looking back at the bird-like zoner, although he looked like Dr. Crobat, he certainly wasn’t acting like him. Even if this was his body, the mind occupying this body was...something else. Or at the very least, something was going on. And somehow, Mint was able to detect it. She still wondered how he noticed, and she did not.

Dr. Crobat’s body had stiffened up at this comment, and he moved another step back. His whole body soon started to tremble as his widened eyes locked onto Mint’s. He stammered and he struggled to speak. Anything he said was just incoherent, or a few little words like ‘you’ and ‘why’. This lasted for what felt like several long, tedious minutes before he finally gave a response.

A physical one.

Before Mint had a chance to react, Dr. Crobat had charged right at him. One of his feet was lifted up and it struck him against his chest. Mint let out a pained cry as he was rammed into the ground. He rolled across the ground before he stopped several feet away.

Penny watched this with widened eyes. “Mint!” She shouted in horror. Then, hearing a growl, she turned her head and saw that Dr. Crobat was racing towards her, wings spread out and beak split wide open. She let out a scream and brought her hands up in self defense. Moments later, he collided with her.

sss

“Aaaaahhhhh!”

Rudy immediately jolted at this. If he still had working legs, he would have jumped straight into the air at this. He stiffened up seconds later, looking left and right as he tried to figure out just what could have made that noise. It took him only a relatively short amount of time before he realized just what that was.

“Snap...” Rudy whispered under his breath. He turned his head slowly, his eyes matching up in the direction that he had heard that sound in. He could feel his heart start to twist. “Snap...!”

Although he knew that it would do him absolutely no good, Rudy started to try to bang his way out. With a tightly formed fist, he began to strike against the bars as hard as he could. Again and again, he struck down, attempting to break it open. Each slam caused an increase of pain in his hand, spreading upward along his arm. Buth is desperation prevented him from stopping, and he just kept going.

He had to get out of here. He had to try. He couldn’t stop. Epecially not for something as lame as ‘his hand was hurting’. No, that was no excuse at all. He had to keep trying to free himself, no matter what. Snap was in trouble. That scream....it was clear that he was calling out for help. And he had to be there for him. He was his best friend. He couldn’t let him down.

He wasn’t sure how much time passed as he kept banging his hand against the metal bars over and over again. Time seemed to have stood still, and he was no longer really paying all that much attention to it. Right now, he had a bigger issue in trying to get out of here. He couldn’t give up. He wouldn’t give up. Snap wouldn’t give up on him. He couldn’t give up on him in return. He just needed to keep trying. Sooner or later, these bars would have to come down, right? He just needed to keep going and....

“Stop it! Please, stop it!” Jyker suddenly shouted. This caused Rudy to jolt once before looking back at the hyena zoner. “Y-You are not doing any good! Just stop b-b-before Sandra decides to g-g-give you a reason to stop!”

Rudy stared at him for a moment before narrowing his eyes. “I can’t stop! My friend is out there!” Rudy shifted his head back towards the bars. “If you don’t want to help me, fine. But don’t....”

Jyker cut him off. “You won’t be able to break them down! Trust me, I’ve t-t-tried!” Jyker’s weakened voice had a bit of hysteria in it, a little more energy. It made Rudy wonder for a moment if he was afraid of something. “Just stop it, okay? Y-Y-You aren’t going to do yourself a-any f-favors...”

Rudy ignored him after that. Jyker did continue to speak, but Rudy just drowned him out in his own thoughts. He kept his attention on the wall before him, his eyes narrowed into slits. He had to find a way to break this thing down and fast. He looked down at his hand, still feeling the ache going through it. Then he turned to his other hand. It wasn’t going to make much of a difference, but, it was the only thing that he could do.

With his other hand, he started to punch against the bars as hard as he could, just like before. He just kept on striking, ignoring Jyker’s pleads for him to stop. Eventually Rudy did notice one or two of the bars start to wobble and shake a little. It was not much, but it was still enough to encourage Rudy to try hitting harder. Maybe if he targeted a weak spot repeatedly, it would be enough to...

Suddenly he felt something grabbing onto him. He let out a yelp of surprise as he was pushed into the ground by something kind of heavy, and furry. He kept his eyes squeezed shut as he gritted his teeth for several seconds. Then he opened his eyes and looked up.

He found them coming face to face with a set of hyena eyes. Jyker had him pinned down to the ground, his paw-like hands gripping his arms and holding him there. He was panting heavily, still looking pretty unnerved like from before, his eyes hinting at some kind of anxiety. Given his injuries, Rudy was impressed that he could move that quickly at all, but this was soon overshadowed by his own frustration.

“Get off of me!” Rudy tried to kick the zoner before realizing that his legs do not work. So he had to resort to trying to strike at him. But with both his arms pinned, the most he could do was squirm left and right. “I said let go of me!”

“No! You have to stop this!” Jyker kept pushing Rudy into the ground, doing nothing to let up on him. Even when Rudy struggled even harder, still this was not enough to make the hyena zoner let go of him. “Please stop it! You’re only going to hurt yourself more!”

Rudy continued to thrash and yell on the ground, showing no signs of slowing down. His teeth gritted tightly as he squirmed about, trying to do whatever he could to get free. He had no idea what this hyena’s problem was. But he was not about to stop. He refused to stop. Not while Snap still needed his help. If Jyker was just going to get in the way, then...

Rudy managed to free an arm and, before he realized what he was doing, he had struck Jyker in the jaw. The hyena zoner let out a yelp of pain. His grip on Rudy had loosened up enough, allowing Rudy time to wriggle his way free. He kept strucking and punching at Jyker, desperately trying to get him of. He felt a little bad for what he did, but his swirling mind was too focused on getting out to really fully register his guilt.

With Jyker off of him for the moment, Rudy crawled his way back over to the bars. He formed a fist yet again to start striking. However, he wasn’t able to get that far when he felt Jyker grabbing onto him again. The hyena’s arms wrapped around his body and he was yanked back hard. The force was enough to case the two to land on their backs, Rudy pressed up against Jyker. He immediately started to struggle again, trying to grab onto the hyena and pull him off. Jyker held him even tighter than before, not reacting to Rudy’s attempts to strike at him.

“No! No! Let me go!” Rudy cried out as he continued to struggle frantically. “Release me now! You stupid hyena! Let me go! Do you not want me to save Snap?! What the hell is it with you?! Why don’t you want me to save my friend?!”

“You’re in no condition to help your friend! Please, s-s-stop this before you h-h-hurt yourself more!” Jyker replied, tightening his grip on the boy.

Rudy had no idea how much longer he kept this up. A rush of adrenaline prolonged things for a while, giving him the strength to continue fighting back. He jerked and he twisted to each side. He released a series of loud shouts and a few insults here or there, his burning, panicking mind temporarily unable to put on a filter.

Over time, his strength began to leave him. He could feel it sapping through his fingers, disappearing into nothingness. He still kept struggling and fighting back for a little while, but it soon became obvious that he was getting too weak to fight. There was no way that he could keep this up forever. He could feel himself start to go limp from exhaustion. And soon, he collapsed.

He laid there for several moments, his mind swimming. He stared up towards the ceiling as he heard yet another scream from Snap. His stomach churned and he felt as though he was going to through up at any moment. Yet he could do nothing except just...lay there. Helpless. Unable to do anything.

And all because of Jyker. How could he...

No, it was not Jyker’s fault. No, it was his own body. No, it was Sandra. She is the one who took away his legs. She is the one who took away his chalk. She is the one who put him here. It’s her fault that he couldn’t save Snap. It was her fault that he was useless. He could feel tears forming in his eyes as he realized just how useless he truly was right now. And all because of Sandra.

The emotion swelled up inside of him, burning his eyes, making his teeth clench. He struggled to hold it in. He tried to fight back. But it became rapidly futile. As the first tear started to shed, he could already feel the emotional dam inside of his head explode. Unable to hold it back any longer, he began to cry.

He could feel Jyker shifting himself around, sitting up. He could feel the hyena’s sympathetic eyes looking down at him. He could feel him wrap his arms around him and pull him into a gentle, secure hug. Rudy didn’t try fighting back. He didn’t try to speak to him, nor did he react to Jyker’s gentle comments. The only thing that he could do was just...lay there and continue to sob.

sss

“Are you sure about the results so far, Sarando?” Bell spoke, his voice unusually calm. “You have given me the exact results like I asked of you?”

Sarando nodded his head quickly. He did not hesitate to answer. “Y-Yes, sir! That’s what the data gathered said!”

“Hmm..” Bell looked down at the paperwork that had been handed to him. His eyes skimmed over left and right, reading the results over and over again to make sure that he had looked at them correctly. “This is quite interesting...”

“Sir?”

Bell didn’t respond to Sarando right away. He kept his eyes focused on the paperwork. Interesting how these results were accurate. No alterations or anything, like he had expected to be the case. According to Sarando, this is the results that came of their little experiment. It hadn’t yet ended, but he had wanted the results of how it was going currently. And he was pleased to see that it was going splendidly.

But it was too early to celebrate yet. He needed more data. He needed more time to figure out if this is going to be useful later on. He did not want the testing for the Signal to be rushed; he had to take his time to really perfect it. At the same time, he could not draw attention with it. That was way only a few individuals were really affected at this point. And only one of them was the focus of their primary testing.

There was a little bit of guilt twisting in his stomach. He hadn’t really wanted to use an innocent zoner for the testing. He had wanted instead a villain. Someone who would have deserved to be manipulated like that. But he didn’t have a lot of time to choose and there weren’t any villains he knew of walking around in the streets at the time. He had to choose randomnly, and the only one that he could think of at the time was...

...ah well, at least he would be able to get the results that he needed. Even if he was hurting an innocent zoner in the process, at least it was all going to be worth it in the end. True, not many would agree with him on this, and he was going to get a lot of hate if word got out. But the ends justify the means, right?

But as he told himself before, there was still more testing to be done. More data to be acquired. More things that needed to be taken care of. If he was going to have the Signal be on stand by just in case, he wanted it perfected. He was going to need to run more tests with it with their current specimen. He cringed at using that terminology, but..that is what that zoner was to them right now, right?

He realized that this testing could make their subject do something incredibly stupid. A dead zoner was not worth much in terms of testing, and it was not good for morale. He could only hope that the test subject in question would still be smart enough to avoid danger. Sarando indicated that he did, but something could change. The Signal was still being worked on. There were surely a few kinks. It was entirely possible that something could happen and...

Well, at least this subject was also a doctor. He should be able to treat himself afterwards, right? This provided a little bit of comfort to Bell. A reduced chance of losing this zoner to this rigorous Signal testing.

He soon realized that he had been rambling mentally a little too long about this and he turned his head over to where Sarando was waiting. The crane-like zoner had his head lowered and adopted a slightly cringing posture. He was waiting more his next batch of orders, clearly. He looked as if he wanted to speak up, but he was too afraid to utter another word without permission.

Bell narrowed his eyes slightly at this. He wondered if he should do something about Sarando. He had been pretty loyal so far and did what he was told. But at the same time, he wondered if he would ever become a problem later on. Sarando did not fully agree with what he was doing, and had been partially opposed since day one. He hadn’t tried to rat him out or anything...yet. That all could change quickly.

Yes, perhaps he should take care of Sarando.. But not yet. He had one more thing he wanted Sarando to take care of first before he decided if he needed to deal with the crane zoner or not.

“Sarando!” He barked.

The crane zoner immediately jolted at this. He looked up at the bull zoner warily, taking in slow, slightly shaky breaths. He swallowed nervously and took a slow step forward. “Y-Yes, sir? What is it?”

Bell paused for a moment, letting the crane feel the tension in the air for a short time. Then he said, “I need you to go to our test subject’s current location. I am sure you have it on your little GPS thing that I gave you.”

Sarando held up a small device in his hand.

“Good. Use that to find him, and then gather more data.” Bell said, setting the paper on the table. “But this time, don’t tell me just of his current behavior. If there is anyone with him at all, let me know how they react. I want to know if the Signal bounces off of people and still affects others, even if only one is being targeted.” The bull narrowed his eyes softly. “If there are any noticeable changes, let me know. I need to tweak this thing so I can target individuals directly. I cannot have the Signal bouncing off of people. Do you understand?”

“Yes, I understand!” Sarando cried out as he gave a few swift nods of the head. “I will get right on that, sir!”

Bell grinned at this. “Excellent.”

sss

Mint gritted his teeth as he off in the direction of the bird-like zoner. Not far from the zoner, he could see that Penny had gotten back up to her feet after wrestling with Dr. Crobat. Or rather, who looked like Dr. Crobat.

Mint’s mind swirled as he trie dto figure out just what the heck was going on here. What was wrong with Dr. Crobat? Or was this even him? He wasn’t sure. And right now, there was very little time to even be thinking about that. He glared off at Dr. Crobat for a few moments, watching as he approached Penny. Then, kicking his feet against the ground, he rushed over.

Dr. Crobat raised his wings up, staring intently at Penny as his body was hunched. Penny glared back, raising her hands up, forming tight fists. She was still a little shaky on her feet, however. And as soon as she had a little trip up, even if it wasn’t much, Dr. Crobat used that opportunity to lunge at her. Penny grunted as she was forced into the ground, Dr. Crobat standing on top of her with his long, bird-like feet.

“Hold still!” Squawked the bird zoner. “This will go a lot easier if you just...!”

Penny, however, wouldn’t have it. With her eyes narrowed into slits, she pulled her foot back and she kicked Dr. Crobat. Her foot pushed against his stomach, knocking him backwards away from her. Before he had time to get up, while he was still holding his stomach and wheezing, Penny got herself back up to her feet. She remained there for a few moments before she charged towards him.

Dr. Crobat noticed her coming. He attempted to try to attack her, raising up one of his feet to strike. Penny managed to move herself to side quickly, before the claws had a chance to strike her. She then, with a fist formed, struck him against the side of his face. The force of this blow caused the bird zoner to start stumbling backwards.

And that was where Mint came in. He moved as quickly as he could, his feet pounding against the ground with each stride. He saw that Dr. Crobat quickly recovered, flapping his wings to regain his balance. He could see just how pissed off he was about this turn of events, and it was clear that he was not going to let her get away with that. He growled softly before he launched himself at Penny, fully intent on tearing into her with his claws.

Mint, however, would not allow this. Only a second after the zoner launched himself, so did Mint. He flew through the air, and he wrapped his arms around the zoner. Dr. Crobat let out a surprised grunt before the two crashed into the ground.

Dr. Crobat, down on his back, let out a loud screech at Mint. Mint flinched, wanting to cover his ears. He resisted the temptation, however, as he gripped onto the bird’s wings and held them down, trying to keep him still. However, this did not stop Dr. Crobat from striking out with his feet. Mint let out a cry of pain as one of the feet struck against him, raking him with those sharp talons. Blood dripped down his arm.

“Mint! Are you okay?!” Penny called out.

Mint lifted up his head and saw that Penny was coming towards him. He was about to respond to her question before he suddenly felt another slash, this time across his face. Partially blinded by the blood leaking into his eyes, Mint let out a loud scream and stumbled backwards.

“Oh my gosh.. I’m so sorry, Mint!” He could hear Penny shout, her voice slightly shrill and frantic. “Are you... Aaargh!”

Mint could not see what had happened, but he could hear Penny’s grunt of pain and the loud thud that followed quite easily. He could hear a series of pained sounds and striking. With his heart twisting in a knot, he knew that Penny was being attacked by Dr. Crobat. He had to help her. But...how was he going to do that in this condition?

He struggled to open up his eyes. Each time, he felt a sharp sting in his eyes and a flash of red where the blood was still leaking in. He placed his hands over his face and let out a series of small whimpers. He could feel the blood seeping through his fingers, his body shaking in response. Though he knew it may not be a good idea, he rubbed at his eyes furiously, tears pooling from them. He kept struggling to open up his eyes, repeatedly forcing his eyelids open, only to have them close seconds later.

All the while, he could still hear sounds of the fight going on. He could hear some pained sounds from Dr. Crobat. A bit of a relief as this meant that Penny was putting up a fight. But each time he heard her cry out, he flinched, and his struggling increased greatly. He had to help Penny, before Dr. Crobat, or whoever this was, did something worse to her.

Slowly, with a lot of great effort, he eventually managed to open up his eyes. His vision was red tinted and the light hurt and he still felt a stinginess. He could also feel wetness from the tears still spilling out from his eyes. He blinked his eyes several times, trying his best to flush them out. He eventually turned his head and looked at where he was hearing the noise from.

Though his vision was still a little blurry and his color vision was a bit brighter than usual, he could still see what was going on. His eyes widened in shock as he saw Penny being knocked up against one of the nearby rocks, held there by one of Dr. Crobat’s feet. Despite his pain, Mint did not waste any time and rushed off in that direction.

“Let go of me, you...you doppelganger!” Penny gripped onto Dr. Crobat’s foot and tried to push it back away from her.

Dr. Crobat hissed at this and he struck forward with his head. His beak made contact with her shoulder. The girl let out a scream of pain as his beak sliced through her flesh, blood rapidly pouring out from the open gash. “Don’t blame me for this, you stupid human! If you had just done what you were told, none of this would have happened!” Penny just glared at him, her eyes twitching in pain. Dr. Crobat gave a small but still twisted smile. “Now hold still... This won’t...”

“Leave her alone!” Mint shouted as he grabbed onto a couple of Dr. Crobat’s tail feathers. Getting a good, tight grip on them, he yanked back as harda s he could.

Dr. Crobat immediately let out a loud squawk of pain, his grip on Penny loosening up. Penny backed up and stared at Mint with a stunned expression. Mint kept his eyes focused on Dr. Crobat, pulling him back as hard as he could, his hand still gripping his tail feathers tightly. Dr. Crobat attempted to turn himself around and jump at him, but Mint kept on moving back faster than he could keep up. Then, with a single thrust, Mint tossed Dr. Crobat off to the side.

Mint rushed over to Penny and examined her quickly with his eyes. He wanted to ask her if she was okay, but a hiss from the side forced him to stop. He and Penny looked over and saw Dr. Crobat facing off against them, having quickly recovered from Mint’s last move.

The tension was still as high as ever. And it only seemed to be growing stronger by the second. The two teenagers hunched their bodies and growled as Dr. Crobat started to walk towards them, his wings spread out. Their injuries started to sting and pulsate as they looked down at the bird’s talons, listening to them as they tapped against the ground with each move forward.

Mint narrowed his eyes into slits as he brought his fists up into the air. He was fully prepared to keep fighting this bird. He was even fully prepared to bite him, something he only reserved for the most deserving, if he absolutely had to. He didn’t know what was wrong with him. But though a part of him would feel guilty if he was truly hurting Dr. Crobat, the fact of the matter was he was still acting hostile towards them, so of course he would defend himself and Penny as well. And he knew she’d do the same for him.

He and Penny began to pace around in a circle, keeping Dr. Crobat in front of them. They watched him carefully, their eyes narrowed into slits, their hearts racing against their chests. Dr. Crobat did not take his eyes off of them, either. That piercing gaze bore right through them, striking at their hearts. This pacing lasted for several long moments before Dr. Crobat finally made a move.

“It is a shame how you two still continue to fight. I was hoping this would be such a simple job.” Dr. Crobat’s neck feathers raised up slightly as he spoke. “Of course, you two just had to be difficult! Well, isn’t that just a shame...?”

Mint and Penny did not respond. They just glared at the bird zoner, keeping their defensive stances. There was no way that they were going to just let this zoner catch them off guard. Should he make a move, they were going to be prepared. And together, hopefully, they’ll be able to stop him and then try to figure out what was wrong with him.

Dr. Crobat smirked darkly at this show of courage, as if it was something truly hiliarious. “You are so noble. How amusing. Tell me...” He tilted his head to one side. “How do you feel about the....”

Suddenly, Dr. Crobat stiffened up before he could finish. The two teens let out a gasp of shock at the suddenness of this. They stared into Dr. Crobat’s wide, pained expression, his pupils staring into nothingness. Then a few seconds later, he toppled over onto the ground, landing in a loud thud. All was silent for the next several tense moments before Mint suddenly recognized the person who was standing behind Dr. Crobat. The one who had saved them.

It was Dr. Gelcro.


	30. The Most Suitable Punishment

...and smile with those teeth and tear you apart...  
-Run Rabbit Run, The Hoosiers

sss

Normally, Sandra did not like licking herself clean like this. She was not some kind of feline. She was fully capable of using a shower to wash herself. As she wiped at her face with her hand, much like a domestic cat would, she found...almost lesser than she really was. Like she was some kind of wild animal.

She had made an exception in this case because she was in a hurry. She wanted to go speak with Rudy. She wanted to make sure that they were ‘on the same page’ so to speak. And she felt that she needed to do this as soon as possible. She felt as though the longer that she delayed this, the more difficult this process was going to be.

After she licked along her arm, she turned her head and she stared over at where Snap was. Even from her position up from the bed, she could see see Snap, or at least part of him, back in his kennel. She couldn’t help but smile at what she was seeing.

Snap was shivering like a leaf in an earthquake. He was absolutely terrified, as revealed by those low whimpers that he was constantly releasing. She could not see his eyes, but she knew that they were wide like saucers. So big that they might as well roll out of his sockets. And she knew full well that if she were to show her face to him, he was going to absolutely freak out.

Not that it would do him any good. He can scream and cry and plead all he wanted to. It was not going to change what happened. It was not going to change his fate. Even if he got out of here, he was going to have to live with with she did to him for the rest of his life.

It had been a lot of fun. More so than she had thought it would have been. Snap had struggled against her. He fought most of the time before he had eventually gave in. But even then, once in a while, he would kick at her or push or whatever. Anything to make the ‘session’ end quicker. It hardly had any effect on her, though. She continued to toy and play with him. He had become her personal plaything for what may have been about ten to fifteen minutes. A quick session, but quite the memorable one.

Sandra did not plan on doing the same thing with Rudy. Oh no, she had entirely different plans for him. But they were going to be equally as fun. She might still be surprised at how enjoyable it was going to be.

After she felt that she was finished, Sandra jumped out of the bed, her toes hitting the ground hard enough to cause her talons to tap against the hard floor. She straightened herself up immediately, stretching out her back, her tail swishing slowly from side to side. She took a moment to stretch her arms upward and gave a quick shake. Then she decided to pay Snap a short little visit before she decided to go find Rudy and have fun with him.

Once she had gotten in front of him, she peered straight through the barred door and she could see a better image of the frightened, shivering zoner. The sight of him like this generated a lot of mixed feelings. But overall, she was quite pleased with the situation thus far.

Snap looked as if he had gotten into some kind of scrappy fight. He had a few scratch marks on him, some deeper than others. A couple of bruises from when he had been trying to fight back. But other than that, he looked fine physically. His clothes were another story. There were multiple tears in them, more so than what was on his actual flesh. It was these marks that made it look as if Snap decided to do something crazy, like wrestle an alligator or something. The thought was quite amusing, really.

Sandra grinned as she watched Snap’s reaction to her. His eyes widened more than they already were. If they were filled to the brim with fear, they were now overflowing with that emotion. Snap cringed back far from her, his whole body shaking and trembling. He let out low, constant whimpers, his eyes remaining wide open. He looked as if he wanted to say something, but his lips wouldn’t stop quivering and they just got in the way of speech.

It was quite the amusing sight. While before, Snap had some kind of resistance to her. But now, for the time being, he was utterly shattered. She did not expect her little activities would make him completely unresistant, but she suspected a few more sessions, combined with some other...techniques, would be enough.

And then he would be utterly hers.

She reached over and she opened up the cage door. Unlike before, Snap did not show any intention on trying to leave. What a good littlel boy... He had learned fast that if he tried to run, he was going to get hurt. He didn’t even look at the way out; he was just staring at her, watching her with extreme caution as she lowered herself even more until she was eye level with him.

“I have to go somewhere right now, dear sweet little Snap. I’ll let you be here for a little while. I’m sure you will need a lot of time to...recover.” Sandra smiled as Snap just whimpered and cringed away from her. She could see the glistening of his tears as they made their way down his cheeks. Yes, exactly what she would have wanted. “Yes, a little time alone would do you some good.”

She then reached into the cage. Snap’s eyes bulged further, a surprising feat, and he bared his teeth in self defense. Not that Sandra was worried. He knew better than to bite her. Especially after their little ‘playtime’ together. She kept reaching her hand on until she was able to pat the top of Snap’s head. The superhero zoner cringed and whimpered, his head turning down in a reluctant show of submission.

“I expect you to behave better than I get back.” Sandra slowly rubbed the top of his head. She listened to Snap’s soft crying, watching how his terrified solid white eyes refused to tear away from her. “If you promise to be good....” She placed her hands on his cheeks, lightly tracing them. “...I can try to make things a little more...comfortable.”

Snap did not respond with anything other than a high pitched whine. He looked as if he wanted to turn away from her so badly. But the fear that was gripping his heart kept him from getting too far. Sandra noticed how his body’s shaking was increasing, and it was to the point where she would have seen him put his tail between his legs if he had one. All that needed to happen was for him to have an accident and then he’d be all set.

She decided not to make him answer. It would have been a waste of time, anyway. Snap would have only pleaded for his life or asked to be taken to Rudy or whatever. He would not attempt to make any kind of promise. His mind right now just wasn’t capable of doing that. So she would show him a little bit of leniency and not force an answer out of him.

She moved her fingers down slowly, soon reaching the bottom of Snap’s mask. She grabbed onto it and she slowly pulled it off. She dropped it on the ground at the side, her red eyes never leaving his white ones. She then gently cupped his chin, using a feather finger to trace along his cheek. After the tip of her finger reached down to the bottom of his jaw, she moved her face in closer and she gave him a quick kiss on his forehead. Snap shuddered and whimpered at this.

“Now be a good little boy and get your rest. I will not be gone too long. When I get back, I expect you to be on your best behavior. Then we will see if things run more....smoothly.”

With that, Sandra released Snap and backed up from the door. She used her tail to strike it shut, the latch popping into place from the force of the strike. She gave him one more smile before she turned and walked away. Now it was going to be Rudy’s turn to have a little bit of.. ‘fun’.

sss

Rudy wasn’t really sure how long he had been crying. It felt like a few hours, though he knew that could not have been the case. Perhaps just a few minutes then?

Well, it didn’t really matter, anyway. He was still laying there, sniffling was emotion swept through his body. He could feel his body still shake and tremble, even with Jyker’s arms wrapped around him. Rudy found himself cuddling close against Jyker. Even if he was still shaking, something about the hyena zoner’s body warmth was enough to at least start cheering him up a little bit.

At least the screams had stopped.

Though he couldn’t tell if this was a good thing or a bad thing. Had Snap stopped screaming because Sandra had finally let up on him? Or did he stop screaming because...

Rudy took in a sharp gasp of breath at that. He didn’t want to believe that this was the case. Snap had to be okay. He just had to be. He refused to believe that Sandra would have killed him this quickly. He didn’t want to think that Snap was no longer alive. Snap was fine; he just needed to get out of here so he could find Snap and get him out of that dreadful situation.

But first...he’d need to get out of here. But how was he going to do that without any magic chalk? Without any kind of assistance? Jyker had already stated that he tried to get out. Rudy gritted his teeth at this, letting out a soft moan. He still wanted to believe that there was some way that he could get Snap to safety. It just...he wasn’t really sure where to begin.

“There...” Jyker spoke when Rudy’s cries began to slow down. “...do you feel better?”

Rudy was about to answer before he gave a pause to really think about it. He stared downward for a moment. He wondered..did he feel better? It kind of felt like it, but at the same time, he just...wasn’t really so sure. Soon he lifted his head and looked at Jyker in the eyes. “I’m...okay I guess.” He finally admitted. He shifted his eyes to one side. “Though I’m still worried about...”

Jyker’s expression softened up and nodded his head once. “I know, Rudy. I know...” He lowered his head for a moment, his ears flattening. “I fear for the worst for your friend.”

Rudy felt his heart twist at this. “Please..there’s just gotta be something that I...we can do.”

Jyker gave him a small, understanding smile. “I admire your enthusiasm, kid. A part of me hopes that you won’t lose this.” His ears lowered as his expression softened up. “But...” He sighed as he turned his head in one direction, looking away from Rudy. “...I’m afraid that enthusiasm isn’t going to get us out of this mess.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes a little. “Oh come on... There has to be something that you haven’t tried!”

“I’ve tried quite a lot, Rudy. You think that I sat here all this time as Sandra held me captive? I can assure you that I did not.” Jyker’s tone altered, showing....not really aggression, but something more tense. Rudy pulled his head back from him as a result. “I’ve been trying to escape for hours! And I have had no luck! Trust me, I have tried!” Jyker gritted his teeth, part of his teeth being exposed. “I clawed and I kicked and I struck...”

“Did you bite?” Rudy cut him off.

The hyena zoner immediately paused this, staring down at Rudy with widened eyes. “....what?”

Rudy repeated the statement slowly. “Did you....try to...bite...the bars?”

Jyker blinked his eyes a few times. He turned his head towards the bars for a moment. He stared at them, his mouth hanging partially open. Then he shook his head slowly. “N-No...I...” He paused for a moment. His eyes seemed to almost light up in realization. “No, I don’t think I’ve tried that.” He stared down at Rudy, his mouth still open from the shock of this. “I really d-don’t think I have.”

Rudy wasn’t really sure if he should be surprised or not. On the one hand, he would have thought that Jyker would have known that he could try using his jaws. Why didn’t he try that before? Hyenas were supposed to have powerful jaws, right?

But then again, Jyker was a zoner, not a real hyena. There was little reason to believe that he would have strong jaws like a real hyena would. For all he knew, Jyker had glass jaws that would break too easily. But the only way to find out was to try. It was a risk, but if it meant a chance of getting out of here...

Rudy motioned his hand over towards the bars. “Try biting through them.”

“What?!” Jyker called out in shock, his eyes widening. “I-I can’t do that!”

“But you said you never tried it.” Rudy narrowed his eyes. “How do you know that you can’t unless you try it for yourself and see what happens?”

“I-I...well, I...” Jyker stammered. He looked from Rudy and to the bars in a repeated fashion. He slowly licked his lips nervously, sucking in a few sharp breaths as his mind raced, struggling for an answer. “I...” Eventually, he lowered his head, his body becoming lax. “...I guess I could try...”

Rudy felt surprise and relief when Jyker caved in faster than he had expected. That was a shock, but still good as that meant that they could get through this faster. Sandra was still gone and Rudy hadn’t heard any sign of her getting closer. They needed to take this chance and see if they can’t get it open. And if they do get out of here, they could go find Snap. Rudy made a small flinch at the thought of his friend.

Jyker got up from the ground and he began to make his way over towards the bars. Or rather, he limped over, one of his legs slightly bent at an awkward angle. The hyena’s eyes focused intently on the bars before him. Rudy watched in silence, waiting to see what the hyena zoner was going to do. Would he give it a shot or was he so shaken up by what happened that he wouldn’t be able to bring himself to do it?

Much to Rudy’s relief, Jyker appeared willing to go try to go through with this. He watched as the hyena zoner positioned himself so that he was in front of the bars. Those eyes of his stared long and hard at the bars before he slowly, bur surely, opened up his jaws. A couple seconds passed before the hyena zoner clamped his jaws around the bars tightly, a loud clanging sound giving out in the process.

Jyker let out a series of low growls and snarls as he clamped his jaw as tightly around the bars as he could, his lips curling up to expose his sharp teeth. Then, his neck muscles tightening, he began to yank his head back as hard as he could, struggling to tear the bar out of where it had been secured. He grunted and he snarled as he twisted his head this way and thought, doing whatever he could to get this thing out.

Rudy wasn’t sure how long he had been doing this. But he had to admire the zoner for keeping up the pace. Jyker opened his jaws and bit down even harder, flinching only for a moment before snarling and struggling to get this thing out. He yanked his head back a few times. He would release the bar for a moment before biting down on it again. It eventually got to the point where Rudy was certain he saw the bars start to bend and give way under the pressure of the hyena’s jaws. He could feel himself start to swell in excitement at that, and he watched Jyker with renewed hope. Maybe they could do this after all.

Jyker hadn’t given up, even though several minutes surely must have passed. His continued biting and gnawing of the bar caused it to morph even further under his jaw strength. He gave a few more yanks backwards, twisting and turning his neck, before something finally happened.

There was a loud screech, and Rudy instantly knew what this meant.

Jyker had managed to bring the bar out of its socket.

Rudy stared at the partially dislodged bar, Jyker’s teeth still clamped around it. He felt a whirlwind of emotions striking through him. Time itself seemed to stand still. Jyker was still pulling and tugging at the bar, but he hardly noticed it. His mind only focused on the fact that the bar was dislodged at all.

This could work. This could really work. All Jyker would need to do is just pull bark as hard as he could, and that would get the bar out. All they needed was one bar out for them to be able to squeeze through. And Sandra still wasn’t here. They could do this. They just needed a little more time. And once they were out, they could go find Snap.

A few seconds later, it finally happened. After what felt like forever, with the hyena zoner struggling to pull and yank the piece of metal away, it had finally given out completely.

Rudy moved himself to the side quickly as Jyker fell backwards. He flinched as he watched the hyena zoner crash into the ground. Metal pole smacked him in the head, causing him to release a whimper and whine in the process. He covered his head, rubbing at the sore spot furiously. Rudy rubbed his own head in the process, momentarily thinking of just how that must have felt.

He then looked over to see the fruits of the hyena’s struggle. He could see a small hole where the bar had been recently. He moved his eyes slowly as he took in all the details, making sure that he was seeing correctly. He slowly smiled at this, feeling a wave of emotion hit him as he realized that he was actually free, that there was finally a way out.

But he soon narrowed his eyes. They still needed to take this with great caution. The last thing they wanted to do was ruin their chance of getting away. If they rush through this too fast, they might get caught.

Rudy would have helped Jyker to his feet if he could have. But with his legs useless, the only thing he could do was just watch as Jyker struggled to stand up. His legs wobbled from side to side for a few seconds as he tried to keep himself balanced. It took a little while before he eventually settled down, maintaining a good balance. Jyker stood there for a moment before lifting his head to see just what he had accomplished.

Those tired-looking eyes suddenly widened when he noticed that there was now an opening in the cage that they were in. He looked down at his paws and then back at the opening once more. He repeated this motion a couple of times before he took a shaky step forward.

“Did...Did I do that...?” Jyker managed to breathe.

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “Yes, you did.” With narrowed eyes, he turned his head back towards the opening that was just made. “We are free....almost.”

Jyker conceded, “Y-Yes... There’s still the matter at hand.” He moved a paw along his head, stroking his ear for a moment. He turned his head down at the teen on the floor. “So...what do you propose that we do?”

Rudy was not sure how to answer that. He wasn’t entirely certain if they would even get this far. He did feel a little stupid for not thinking further ahead on this. He should have been more prepared. Yes there was an opening available now, but they still needed to figure out what they were going to do. Where would they go after this? Where would they hide? How would they keep Sandra from finding them? All this was important to consider.

But at least they still had time. Sandra was not back yet. They could not hear her. She couldn’t be that close. They just needed to take this time to figure out what they were going to do, and fast. And then use whatever time they had available to find Snap and get the hell out of this terrible place.

sss

She still hadn’t figured out exactly what she was going to do with Rudy. At least, how to approach it exactly. She was not sure if she should move into it slowly, letting him eventually catch on. Or if it should be a swift thing, out of nowhere and without any sort of warning.

Well, whatever she chose in the end, it would still have roughly the same result. Horror would be stricken into Rudy’s heart. He would beg and plead. He would try to do whatever he could to convince her not to mess with him like that. After all, she would be striking at his heart, his emotions, toying with them. Even if he did not react exactly like that right away, he would eventually cave in. It would be quite fun.

But she did have plenty of time to think about that, so she was not too concerned. There was really no rush. With Penny and Mint dead, who was going to come save them? She knew that Skrawl wouldn’t dare try. That stupid jellybean was quite broken up as he was now. He wouldn’t be able to even save himself, let alone someone else.

Sandra had to wonder, though. Was she fully prepared for this? Was there any stone she had left unturned? She had been so careful when she planned all of this out. She had looked at several nook and crannies, hoping to fill in the gaps, making it impossible for anyone to slip through. But was it possible that she missed something? That fate was going to take a turn that she did not see coming?

It was possible, she had to admit. She wasn’t stupid. It may not be likely, but she had to remain convinced that something could still crop up. And if it did, she was going to have to be prepared to deal with it. She already had a punishment in mind should her prisoners attempt to escape. She had not told them what it was, and a part of her hoped it didn’t have to come to that. It would just be wasted time. But..if it did happen...

She shook the thought out of her mind as she continued walking down the corridor, heading back to where she had left Rudy. She felt it was easier to keep Rudy and Snap stored somewhat close to each other, but still out of sight. She preferred the shorter trips and at least in this way, even if they could hear each other, they had no idea where the other one was being held captive. She would rather watch them squirm from not knowing. Always more delightful that way.

She had thought about, at one point, bringing Rudy and Snap together and toying with them in various ways. Perhaps watching the other get hurt. Or trying to turn them against each other. Or even something a bit more...interesting.... She licked her lips at the thought and rubbed her hands together.

She was still not entirely sure about Jyker, however. A part of her wondered why she even bothered bringing him over at this point. She was still spiteful of him, especially with his involvement of exposing her years ago. But at the moment, her focus had mostly been on Rudy and Snap. She hadn’t really thought too much of what Jyker’s punishment was going to be. She was certain that she would think of something. She just...didn’t know what that was going to be yet.

Well she was going to figure something out of course. It would take some time. But sooner or later, she would figure something out indeed. The thought brought a dark smile to her face. If she ever did decide what to do with him, she could go all out. It was not like she needed Jyker alive; it was only Rudy and Snap that she wanted to keep.

Without warning, something rattled against her ears, causing them to twitch. She raised them up as she looked left and right, her eyes narrowing deeply. Something was going on. And she needed to figure out what it was. Adopting a dinosaurian stance, she proceeded to move forward slowly and carefully, taking her time with each step.

She kept on moving until she found herself at the edge corner of a new hallway, the one that she knew would lead her down to where Jyker and Rudy were being held. She knew that Skrawl’s Beanie Boys, or rather, her Beanie Boys, weren’t in this location. So the only other thing she knew it could be were those two. Or perhaps someone else trying to get in. She narrowed her eyes into slits. She was not going to let them get away that easily.

She watched the hallway carefully, her eyes darting around as she struggled to find something, anything. Even the slightest movement was all that she needed before she sprung into action. And once she did, there was going to be hell to pay.

She didn’t see anything so far. And even the sounds appeared to have stopped. But that didn’t mean that she was going to just let this fall by the wayside. That wasn’t going to do her any good, and she was certain that’s exactly what these two fuckers would think she was going to do. They fall silent and think that she was going to buy it. Well, they had another think coming.

She continued to move down slowly. She kept her back parallel to the ground, her eyes narrowed into slits. Her teeth were gritted tightly as she let out a series of low growls. Her tail moved slowly from side to side as she made her way over slowly. Her eyes focused on the door that she knew had Jyker and Rudy behind it, her lips pulled back to expose her sharp teeth in a snarl.

So far, there was no movement from the door itself. She didn’t even see any kind of shadows there. Either they were not anywhere near the door, perhaps still trapped like she had left them, or they were much better than she thought. A part of her didn’t even know how they could have gotten out of their cell to begin with, but she was not about to dismiss that possibility. She had worked too hard for this. She could not afford to screw any of this up.

When she reached the door, she moved her hand out towards it slowly. She soon wrapped her hand around it tightly and, slowly, she began to turn it to the side. She made sure to go nice and slow, not wanting to do anything to make the two jump and try to escape. She wanted to catch them offguard. Only when the door was opened up enough did she lean in to peek inside with one of her eyes.

She couldn’t help but take in a loud shocked gasp at what she saw. Or rather, what she did not see. She couldn’t see any sign of those two. They weren’t out in front of the cage or anywhere in the room that they were in. And they most certainly were not in the cage itself. They were just...gone.

Sandra froze in shock at this, feeling her mind swimming, her blood having a quick chill before it began to burn. Just how did those two little idiots get out of here? She had beat up Jyker so he should be not in that best of condition to walk around, and Rudy’s legs were useless and he had nothing with him to help aid him in that endeavor. So just...how in the world did they...?

Sandra gritted her teeth tightly, feeling her blood heat up more. She was not going to let them get away with this. No one makes a fool out of her. She would figure out where they went soon enough. She would find them and she would bring them back. And once she did, oh the things she had in store for them...

She didn’t have time to stand around and try to accuse which one of the two was most at fault. Right now, she needed to focus on trying to find those two before they got too far. She needed to figure out just which direction they most likely have taken and go from there.

Moving herself further into the now abandoned room, Sandra lowered her head and she began to sniff at the ground. She struggled to find their scents. It took her a little while before she was able to locate their scents. Once she did, she lifted her head up and stared off in one direction. Her eyes narrowed into slits.

Those two were both going to get a punishment that they will never forget. She would see to that.

sss

“Ouch! That hurt!”

“Then watch where you’re going!”

“I can’t! You’re the one carrying me, remember?!”

“Oh...right... Sorry.”

“Just keep moving! I thought I heard Sandra!”

“I’m going! I’m going!”

A part of Rudy wondered why he had thought this was a good idea in the first place. Why in the world did he think that riding on top of Jyker in this ventilation shaft was a smart thing to do? It was so crowded in here and even when he was pressed so far against the hyena, he still felt as though he was hitting the top multiple times.

But it wasn’t like they had many other options. By the time that either of them had gotten out of the cell, they had heard the faintest sound of Sandra down the hallway. Or at least, they thought they did. They weren’t entirely sure, but they could not take the chance. So instead of just sitting there, they immediately took action. And the only thing that they could come up with was just....going through the ventilation shaft...

It was a good thing that they chose to act then, however. Hearing Sandra’s low, distant growls proved that they really did hear her before, and they had managed to miss being spotted by her. He wasn’t sure how long it would take her to figure out that they had gone into the shaft. But he hoped that it would take a while. Long enough for him and Jyker to put some distance between her and them.

He wasn’t really sure how far this ventilation shaft went or where it woud lead them out at. They hadn’t really seen any other ways to turn yet. This did have him worried. If this shaft had only one exit, and Sandra knew that they were in it, then all she would have to do was just wait on the other side for them. They would be heading straight into a trap.

The only option that he could think of that might work is just...breaking through somewhere. Jyker might be able to pull it off. If he could manage to rip out an iron bar with his jaws, surely he’d be able to break through something like this. The metal here was a little flimsy in comparison to that iron bar. Yeah, that might work.

Or would it? It might be hard for him to do, considering the fact that the metal here was flat. How would he get his jaws around it? And even if he could do it, there was also the issue that they had no idea what was below them. He wasn’t the one who had the map sadly, so there was no way for him to know what waited for them beyond the metal walls. For all he knew, it was going to lead to somewhere worse than they had been before.

So their only option really was just to keep moving forward and hope for the best. If there was any chance at changing directions, he felt it was best to seriously contemplate it. Or even better, multiple directions. And then choose one random location. This would make it harder for Sandra to be able to find them. A lot harder, indeed.

It still did not mean that they’d escape. As much as he was hopeful for that, he could not underestimate that blue dragon. She might think of something. But maybe, if he kept her attention on him for a while, that would give Snap a chance to escape.

..if he was still alive, that is.

Rudy shook that horrible thought out of his mind before it had a chance to take him over. He struggled to keep focus on the task at hand. He kept his arms looped around Jyker’s neck. It was a struggle to keep himself from holding him too tightly, yet at the same time, not being too loose or else he’d fall off. Jyker was his only way through this place. If he were to become stranded.... His gut twisted at the thought.

“Well, so far, so good.” Jyker spoke up, likely wanting to end the long silence that befall upon them. “I wonder how far we have traveled.”

“It hadn’t been too long, unfortunately.” Rudy turned his head and looked behind him. “I suspect Sandra might have figured out where we went.”

Jyker’s body gave a quick stiffen at this. “What makes you say that...?”

Rudy shrugged his shoulders. “It’s just a hunch. I don’t want to take chances with her.” He paused for a moment, and then he glared out ahead of them. “Let’s just keep going. I’m sure we will find...something ahead of us that can help.”

“I do hope you are right.” Jyker gritted his teeth, seething partially through them. “This is a one way trip. I can’t back out of this so easily. So I hope this was all worth it.”

So did Rudy.

Rudy didn’t attempt to say anything in response, however. He didn’t want to say anything that might end up shaking up Jyker’s hope. It had been pretty tough getting him to do anything at all. Even crawling through here after they got out hadn’t been something that he wanted to do initially. He didn’t know if it was a good idea or not.

Not that he wanted to lay down and take it or anything. He just seemed so...conflicted. And after what happened to him, it wasn’t like Rudy could really blame him. He had been through quite the hell thanks to Sandra. Even his crawling showed signs of damage. He was amazed that he could even keep it up for this long. He was quite impressed, actually.

They continued to move forward down the tunnel. They hadn’t really run into any problems yet. At least, none concerning Sandra. No sign of her yet. The only issue they appeared to run into was this neverending shaft they were now stuck in.

And this started to worry Rudy. With how long this shaft was, he could not tell if they were making any sort of progress or not. It was just...impossible to tell. There was no indication of any sort of progress. Nothing to tell them that they were getting anywhere. Nothing but a long tunnel, which to add to the fact, he could barely see in, except for some shadows. Jyker had it better due to his night vision capable eyes.

After what felt like several more minutes and still no sign of progress, Rudy bit his lip firmly. He had to wonder if he had made some kind of huge mistake. Was it really a stupid idea to come out this way? Should they have gone a different path? Maybe take a chance and head out the door instead? At least then, they’d be able to see what could be going on. In this situation, they had no idea where Sandra could be...

He narrowed his eyes in determination. Well, it was too late for that now. Besides, they still had a chance at this. They just needed to remain focused. They’d get out of here. He knew they would.

Suddenly he felt Jyker come to a hault. The stopping was so fast that Rudy was nearly flung forward. He managed to hold onto Jyker tightly enough to keep himself from falling off. He shook his head and then he stared down at Jyker, his eyes widening.

“Why did you stop?” Rudy called out, his voice laced in shock.

The hyena did not answer right away. His head was positioned so that he was staring straight ahead. His ears were moved forward, as though trying to catch some kind of sound. It was hard to see his eyes, but Rudy guessed they were focusing on something that he could not see. Slowly, Jyker’s head turned slowly from one side to the other, his neck muscles quite stiff in the process. Then he could hear the hyena start to sniff a couple of times, louder than normal. His body seemed to shake with each quick whiff.

Then, his voice barely a whisper, he said, “....do you smell that..?”

Rudy frowned at this. “Smell what?”

Jyker simply repeated his statement. “Rudy...don’t you smell that?”

Sensing the urgency on Jyker’s voice, Rudy lifted his head up and started to sniff the air. But no matter how hard he tried, he could only detect the same metallic, dank scent that he had smelled before. Nothing unusual. A part of him wondered if Jyker was imagining things. But then, Jyker did have a stronger sense of smell...

“I’m sorry, Jyker. But I can’t smell anything.” Rudy said regretfully. “...what do you smell?”

“...smoke...”

At this, Rudy widened his eyes. “Wh-What...?”

As soon as he had said that, it struck him. All at once, he started to smell something up with the air. A very faint chance. A familiar smell starting to dominate the air. And then not long after that, he started to realize something else. It was getting hotter in here.

Rudy opened his mouth and started to pant. Oh man, when did it get so hot in here? He hadn’t noticed it before, but now it felt like there was a sweltering jungle in here. Had they ended up in one of the hotter locations in ChalkZone? It almost felt possible, considering how far he and Jyker must have traveled via this pipe.

There wasn’t much time to consider what was going on, however. They had to get moving and fast. The air around them kept getting hotter, and it wasn’t just the air, either. Rudy could feel the roof of the tunnel get hot and he could feel Jyker moving his feet about as the shaft increased its temperature as well. After letting out a few loud whimpers, Jyker began to move quicker down the tunnel.

As they moved as quickly as they could, they could feel the heat all around them getting worse and worse. Rudy could hear Jyker start to whimper as the ground was getting so hot, it was actually starting to burn his feet. He looked at him with great sympathy and tried to reassure him, trying to get him to keep moving, no matter what.

But as they continued to move on, Rudy realized that things were quickly looking quite grim. The heat was rapidly getting to the point of unbearable. Even with his mouth wide open and panting, he wasn’t really sure if he could handle it or not. His tongue felt quite dry and his throat wasn’t all that much better. He wouldn’t be surprised if he would end up losing his voice for a time over this.

And the heat wasn’t the only issue. Below him, even if he could not feel it directly, through Jyker, he could tell that something was wrong with the corridor itself. It felt as though it was starting to weaken and give way. A low creaking sound rapidly filled the air, making his heart race faster. Jyker’s pace quickened at this, the hyena zoner breaking into as quick of a run as he could manage while stuck in this thing. Rudy held on as tightly as he could, trying not to let himself be tossed back with the cramped strides of the hyena zoner.

The squeaking kept getting louder and more pronounced. He could feel something start to move and shift. He could feel them starting to descend, getting lower, the platform that they were on winding up more and more angled. The slanting did let them move faster, but this was of little comfort to them. Especially when they had no idea what awaited for them at the bottom.

Suddenly, without warning, there was a snap. Something had given way. Rudy and Jyker were shoved and jostled to the side, their teeth clenching tightly against each other. They only had a brief time to look at each other before there was another snap, this one louder than before. And then suddenly, they were falling.

Rudy wasn’t entirely sure what happened at this point. He had his eyes shut the whole time, feeling several blasts of heat and smoke against him. Even through his shut eyes, he could still see flashes of bright color left and right. This lasted for several moments, and he was honestly not certain when it would end. Or if it would end at all.

Then, moments later, he felt himself hit against something hard against the ground. His eyes bulged open and he let out a cry of pain. He could feel something warm and soft against him. He tilted his head up to see that it was Jyker, laying across him, blood seeping out of his head where a gash now laid. Rudy laid there for several moments, his head spinning, trying to figure out just what had happened.

Pushing himself up onto his hands a little, Rudy looked around. His vision was a bit blurred at the moment. But he could see enough detail to tell that he had no idea where he was. He could not recognize this place at all. And it was hard to see too much; it was so dark and blurry. Just...where were they...?

The smell of smoke was only getting stronger. Rudy sucked in a sharp breath through his clenched teeth. It would seem that he and Jyker hadn’t actually escaped the flames after all. He could feel it getting closer. If they didn’t get up and get out of here soon...

Rudy lifted his head and looked over at where the slanted, broken platform was. He could practically feel the heat radiating off of it. He could see the slow glow creeping along, getting closer and closer...

Rudy’s eyes bulged in horror and he struggled to get away. He tried to wriggle his way out from underneath Jyker. The hyena zoner was quite heavy, and when he realized he wasn’t moving, Rudy came to the conclusion that he had been knocked out. This made the acting of getting away a lot harder. But he didn’t stop trying. He continued to struggle and squirm, whatever he could to get himself away from here.

But it became quickly apparent that he was not going to be able to get away so easily. Despite his efforts, he was just wedged in there firmly. It didn’t look like he was going to be able to get out. And the fire was getting ever so closer... He wasn’t sure if...

Suddenly he felt a sharp pain in his chest. His body arched upward, his eyes bulging. He struggled to scream, but the pain was too much. He could only manage a quick, quiet gasp. His eyes began to roll back a little, the immense pain becoming too much for him to handle.

Turning his eyes to the side, he could see a figure standing there. It was a little hard to see the full features. The smoke had pillowed out, a bit of flames shooting out as well. The figure was obscured among the dark grey smoke, their body seeming to wave about, the same effect he’d see in the heat, when the ground was just too hot. But as he stared at the figure, seeing that dragon-like shape, that fist in the air, those blood red eyes, he realized instantly who it was.

“S-Sandra..” Rudy whimpered. “P-Please...stop...” He coughed and wheezed before he finally collapsed. Darkness mercifully took him over, and he entered a painless bliss.

sss

Mustering up as much a strength as she could, Sandra lifted up the bodies of her victims in her hands. She positioned herself in front of the cage. She pulled her arms back and then she released, tossing them in as hard as she could. She glared at them coldly as they crashed against the ground heavily. She cared not for how hard they hit the ground; they were asking for it the moment they had tried to leave. After glaring at them for a few seconds, she gripped onto the door handle and then shut it as hard as she could.

She just...couldn’t believe it. Even though she had a feeling they’d try to escape, it was still just...shocking to her. She would have thought that they’d know better than to try to flee. She thought that they would have been smart enough to stay put.

But nope, the idiots decided to try to leave. They really thought that they could get away. But they made a huge mistake in underestimating her capabilities. It also didn’t help that they had used that ventilation shaft. It made it all too easy for her. All she had to do was set down an explosive and that was it.

Well kind of. She used a modified form of the white flame fireworks that she had used before. This was set not to explode right away, but instead have a slow burn. She had intended on using it to weaken the shaft holding them in, and it worked just fine. Just like she imagined, it had weakened the structure at the point where she thought it would be. And when she had gone down there to meet up with her little ‘friends’, they were right where she guessed they would be.

Not that she surprised all that much. She had to do a lot of studying and understanding of white flame explosives before she could actually use them all those years ago. How else was she supposed to evade the worst of the damage while keeping it all within the building itself? How else was she to ensure that Snap did not get killed in the process?

She gritted her teeth as she glared down at the human and zoner before her on the ground, behind the bars once more. She had chosen a different cell this time, in a new location. It was even further away from where Snap was located, but she felt it was necessary. This room did not have any ventilation shafts. At least, not any that these two could use.

Part of her did think of just letting this be and move on. Not like they could even try to escape again. After that little incident, she was certain that they would not try to do it again. They would just lay down and stay put like good little prisoners, just like they should have been in the first place.

But the other part of her didn’t want to stop it right here. She had planned on giving them hell, and that is what she really wanted to do. Something that would make them, at least Rudy, in her control. Something that would assure that there was no way that he’d ever try to leave again.

Hmm...but the question was, what could she do? What option did she have to ensure that Rudy would not try to run away gain? She needed to do something that would break his will to try to leave. Some kind of suitable punishment that would leave him in shambles, mentally speaking. Something that would terrify the living daylights out of him. Fear was quite a good way to control someone, after all.

But what was she going to pick? She had to think on this one. Something that would be good enough to keep Rudy in his place... She knew she could not use Snap. She had other plans for him. And Mint and Penny were dead. It wouldn’t really do her as much good playing with a dead corpse. Rudy would be horrified, but having them alive would be much more affective. Rudy would be more responsive if he had a way to ‘keep them from getting hurt’, per say.

She thought about going out and nabbing a zoner. Perhaps that stupid old creation of Rudy’s, Blocky. Surely Rudy would scream and cry if ‘poor innocent little Blocky’ were to be hurt. But that would mean potentially risking exposing herself. As much as she did not care for those heathens thought of her, she was not interested in getting caught again. And she’d rather not leave for the moment. But if not Blocky then who...

Her eyes twinkled as she stared down at the two unconscious forms before her. There was something that she could do to have fun with both of them. She would admit, she had been hoping to avoid something like this too quickly. But they had brought it upon themselves, and they would have to live with the consequences.

Sandra didn’t do anything right away, however. Instead, she decided to just wait until they woke up. It would be a lot more fun that way. She wanted to see the looks on their faces when they find that they were trapped again. Then when they see what she was about to do with them...oh she couldn’t wait to see what their faces would look like then. It would be utterly priceless...

The sky blue zoner zoner rested herself upon the ground in front of the cage. She pressed her arms against herself, her legs bending far and her haunches lowering down. She eventually began to look like some kind of weird bird in a nest, complete with her neck forming an S shape and her chin resting against herself. She curled her tail against herself, and she took in a deep breath and sighed slowly.

Now all she had to do was wait for them to wake up. Then the punishment would begin.

sss

Slowly, Rudy flickered his eyes open. He let out a small groan as he did so, feeling a shockwave of pain hitting him in the skull. He lifted up his hand and rubbed it a little, his hand moving back and forth, an ache spreading throughout.

Ugh...what happened? It felt as though something had fallen on top of him. Or that he had slept for a couple of years. Or...something. He wasn’t really sure what happened. And at the moment, he wasn’t entirely sure if he really cared. All that seemed to be on his mind was the confusion as to just what was causing this infuriating headache.

Looking around, he tried to figure out where he was. His vision was a tad blurry, but that hardly got in the way of the details. Stone. Grey. Solid and hard. Nothing too distinguishable. Though a part of it felt somewhat vaguely familiar. As though he should know what this place was. But why couldn’t he remember? Why was it so difficult to....

He soon became aware of something else. Something that partially obscured his vision a little. He leaned his head forward and squinted, blinking a few times. Just...what was this? What was he looking at? He should know this. But...why couldn’t he name it? He slowly reached out towards it, his mind swimming, struggling to figure out just what it was that he was staring at.

Upon touching the cold metal, Rudy flinched as he accidentally bent his fingers a little. He pulled his hand back and quickly examined his fingers to make sure that he didn’t damage them. He then looked back at the metal, narrowing his eyes slightly.

Bars.

He knew exactly where he was now.

After a brief memory flash in his head, Rudy looked around the room. He gritted his teeth. He guessed that Sandra was to blame for this. She was the last one she knew they had a conflict with. And this was her hideout. Skrawl’s hideout originally, but now hers.

He soon noticed the hyena on the ground beside him. It was a little difficult for Rudy to adjust himself with his legs paralyzed, but he managed to do a decent job. Enough for him to turn himself around and look over at where Jyker was. His eyes widened as he looked down at his unconscious form, wondering for a moment if he was even still...alive.

Thankfully, this turned out to be the case. Jyker’s ribs were rising and falling slowly. He was still breathing. But this relief didn’t last forever. Rudy wasn’t really sure just how badly hurt he was. It looked as if he had gotten a couple new wounds. Minor, but that was only on the surface. That didn’t take into account what was going on inside. The thought frightened Rudy. He hoped that Jyker was okay. He wished he could help him, but even if he had the magic chalk, he wouldn’t know what he was doing. If only Penny were here...

His heart stung at the memory of his friends. Snap, Penny, Mint... He hoped that they were okay. He wished he could see them. He wished that he had some way to reunite with them. He would be happy even without his wheelchair, so long as he was with them.

But he had no idea what was going on with them. He wanted to know what was happening with them, but he knew that would be an impossible feat. How in the world would he figure this out if Sandra wasn’t willing to spare the details? She wanted to keep him in the unknown, the twisted fiend.

Well, at least he could enjoy a bit of time away from her. He guessed she must have gone to do something. He couldn’t really hear her at the moment. So he pressed himself up against the bars, feeling the cold metal against his skin, and just laid down. Not much else he could really do around here, anyway. He looked up at the ceiling for a moment and then he looked back at Jyker.

He hoped that Jyker would wake up soon. He was feeling increasingly nervous the longer he remained unconscious, especially after what Penny told him in the past about unconsciousness. He didn’t want Jyker to potentially suffer any permanent damage from this. He....He didn’t deserve it. He might not have known him that well, but he knew enough to know that Jyker really did not deserve what was done to him.

Unfortunately, not everyone felt the same way.

Rudy felt a cold chill rush through his body when he heard the footsteps approaching. Each one almost seemed to echo in the air, rattling across the bars. Rudy turned his head slightly, his teeth bared, as he looked over at the shadow forming along the ground. Well, so much for having time away from Sandra.

The dragon stood in the doorway in quite the menacing manner. The light behind her, though not to bright, was enough to case most of her body in shadow. Well, save for her eyes that is. They almost appeared to glow, staring down at him with an intense radiation. Her arms appeared to rest at her side, her hands arched in an almost claw-like manner. Her tail was moving slowly. The dark shadows and the glinting faint light at the tips made the tail spikes look even sharper than before.

Sandra gave a low, dark chuckle as she stared down at Rudy. She did not seem all that bothered by his expression. If anything, she looked rather amused, as though this was the funniest thing to her. She tilted her head to one side and said, “I see you are up from your little nap. I was wondering how long it was going to take for you to wake up. You were really quite the sleepy head, weren’t you?”

Rudy growled softly. Though there was little he could do. Even with his display of bravery, as Sandra took a few steps closer, he felt himself cringe back. He could feel his heart twisting and churning in fear. Regardless of what he tried, he would always remember that this is the person who had tried to kill him before. The same one who had taken away his legs. Who knows what else she could take away...?

Sandra moved in a little closer before she stopped. She regarded Rudy with cold eyes. This was in stark contrast with her smile, which looked almost warm. Almost too warm. It was...quite unsettling. The dragon began to pace back and forth, folding her arms behind her back.

“It is quite a shame it had to end up like this, Rudy. I had hoped that you would have been at least a little more cooperative. But I see that you decided to force my hand...”

“Oh shut up!” Rudy shouted. “You would have done something regardless!”

Sandra stopped at this. She looked down at her hand, flexing her finger. “Ah..that is true I suppose.” She smiled as she looked over at Rudy. “But at least I would have been...slightly more merciful...” The tone of voice that she held was clearly quite bitter.

Rudy hissed softly. “I’m sure you were...”

Sandra merely shrugged her shoulders at this. A simple act that was enough to infuriate Rudy. It was as if she was not taking this whole thing seriously. It was as though she didn’t think that any of this really mattered. And knowing Sandra, this could very well be the case.

Sandra resumed her pacing around. She didn’t speak for several moments. She just...watched Rudy carefully, her eyes scanning him up and down like some kind of hawk. It made Rudy shiver, his blood running cold. He still tried to look brave. But that facade was easily broken by the shivers that went through him. And Sandra could see this plain as day, as evidenced by her expression.

Rudy didn’t know just what Sandra was going to do with him. There were so many horrible possibilities. Which one was she going to go for? Which fate did she have in store for him? Was she going to tear him apart? Was she going to leave him out to die slowly? Just...too many choices. And he had a feeling that Sandra would be willing to try any one of them.

About the only thing that he knew for certain is that Sandra was not going to be too kind to him. He was a ‘promise breaker’ in her eyes. Something to be destroyed. Annihilated. Something that did not deserve to live...

And she had already proven just how far she was willing to go with him.

“I am quite upset that you not only tried to get away, but you did such a poor job of it.” Sandra stopped once more, this time, turning to face Rudy completely. Her expression hardened at this, and it looked almost like she was...disappointed? “I don’t know how you get out of the cage, and I do commend you for that. But...” She tilted her head to one side. “...heading into the ventilation shaft? That was such a clumsy mistake...”

Rudy didn’t answer. It wasn’t like he had anything to say to that. All he did was continue glaring at the zoner, wondering where she was getting at.

Sandra turned her head away swiftly. “Not that I’m entirely upset. I still have something I’d like to do and I would have been so...disappointed if I couldn’t fulfill it. But...” She turned her red eye to look at Rudy. “I would have expected better from the Great Creator. More of a challenge...”

Sandra fell silent. She looked down at Rudy with narrowed eyes. Slowly, she began to make her way towards him, her tail moving from side to side. Her teeth were slightly bared for a few seconds before becoming relaxed. It only took her moments to reach the cage. She stared at Rudy intently, her head tilted down to look at Rudy’s pitiful form splayed on the ground before her.

Then she smiled.

“But then, how could I expect much from you? After all...” She leaned her head in closer. A twisted smile broadened along her face, a glint shining in her eyes. The sight of it made Rudy gulp and lean back, half expecting her to strike him. But what she did say was equally as awful. “....you are just a cripple. A poor, pathetic little crippled boy who will never be able to do the simple thing of...” She straightened herself up, spreading her arms out in a mocking way. “...standing...”

Rudy felt a shockwave of emotion strike him at that statement. His eyes widened and he could feel his heart nearly tear into shreds. He struggled to glare at Sandra, but he had trouble bringing himself to do it. He knew that she was right. He could not use his legs. It was something that he tried to accept, but on certain days, he just.... Rudy could feel a few tears stroll down his face.

Sandra gave a few low chuckles at this. “Oh you poor little thing. The truth hurts, doesn’t it?” Sandra motioned her hand out towards him. “Look at you, laying in the cage, all helpless. You can’t do a damn thing to stop me.” She motioned back towards herself. She then tilted her head to one side, one eye focusing on the boy. “But...I do think that I might be able to...do something about your little situation...”

Rudy wasn’t sure what to make of this. He continued to try to glare at the zoner, more tears still stinging his cheeks. But he could not deny the fact that he was getting a little curious about what Sandra was talking about. What exactly did she mean by she could do something about what happened to him? Or did he misunderstand her?

Rudy couldn’t let his guard down, however. No matter what Sandra told him, he would not let her get to him. She might have been able to trick him before, but he was not going to allow her another chance this time around.

Though this didn’t seem to bother Sandra. She showed no concern as he continued to glare at her. And after a few seconds, she wasn’t even looking at him at all. Instead, her gaze was towards...

...Jyker...

Rudy’s eyes widened. He couldn’t help but stare at Sandra, wondering just what she wanted to Jyker. Although he knew he could not do too much, Rudy crawled over to where Jyker was, putting his body between him and the evil dragon zoner. He looked up at Sandra, gritting his teeth defensively.

Sandra laughed at this. “Oh this is so adorable! But I’m afraid that you are wasting your time...” Sandra lowered her head, narrowing her eyes. “I suggest you stand aside...”

Rudy shook his head. “No!”

Sandra rolled her eyes and shook her head. “Okay then...if you insist...”

Rudy did nothing to get out of the way as Sandra began to close the gap.

sss

It took only moments for Sandra to enter the cage. And it took less time for Rudy to already be trembling harder. Yet he still would not budge. Sandra was not sure whether she should call the boy brave or just plain stupid. Probably a mixture of both.

It was incredibly telling of Rudy’s personality that he would be willing to help out Jyker, despite the fact that he didn’t know him that well. Or at least, she didn’t think that he knew him to that great of an extent. Yet despite that, he was still willing to protect him from her. It was so amusing to watch. A monster protecting another monster.

But it wasn’t like Rudy was going to get that far. He could try all he wanted to. He was not going to be able to save Jyker from his fate. Nor was he going to be able to stop his...punishment.

“If I were you, I would step out of the way.” Sandra continued her way forward, taking her time. She regarded Rudy coldly, with little fear, as she got closer. “You are only going to make things worse for yourself.”

Rudy, however, refused to listen. He just wrapped his arms around Jyker’s unconscious form in a feeble attempt to protect him. “Over my dead body! I won’t let a-anyone fall prey to you!”

Sandra chuckled at this. “Oh isn’t that so noble.” She paused for a moment, tilting her head to one side. “What of your little friends? I guess you didn’t think they deserved to be protected.” Sandra watched as the boy’s eyes widened. She placed her hand against her cheek and shook it. “Oh dear me, I wonder how they might feel about that. What a friend you have been to them...”

Rudy’s body trembled as he glared at her. But when he spoke, his tone was, though still shaky, filled with curiosity and confusion. “What...what are you talking about...?”

Sandra placed a hand against her chest quickly, her eyes widening as she faked a surprised expression. “Oh? You really don’t know? I thought you would have figured it out!” Sandra narrowed her eyes slightly as she moved her head a bit to one side. “I mean, you aren’t stupid I don’t think. Yet...you seriously cannot figure out what I’ve done with them?”

A part of Sandra wondered if he was faking it. Maybe being in utter denial and wanting to believe the best. The poor idiotic fool.. He was only going to hurt himself more by doing this.

Not that she really cared. If Rudy wanted to set himself up for disappointment, then he can go ahead all he wanted to. No skin off of her nose. Sooner or later, the truth would strike him hard, and he would realize just what a fool he’s been. Oh that breakdown was going to be quite good.

But first, there was no harm in...setting him up a little.

“I don’t think you can count on your friends coming to get you, little Rudy.” Sandra held up her hand, examining it like it was the most fascinating thing ever. “You see, I took some...liberties. I mean, did you really think I was going to let those two tell anyone where you were? Oh please!” Sandra looked over her shoulder and stared down at Rudy. “You would not know me that well if you really did think that.”

Rudy took in several quick breaths at this. It was hard to tell if he was realizing the truth or trying to keep himself under control. Maybe telling himself that he was not going to fall for any of her ‘lies’. “What..Wh-What did you...” He swallowed hard. “What did you do with them...?”

Sandra sneered at him, letting out a small chuckle. She thought of witholding the information just to watch him squirm. But she decided against it. No, it would be a lot more fun to watch his reaction. “I killed them.”

Rudy’s eyes bulged at this. Sandra thought for certain that his heart rate must have sped up, as she could feel something pounding in the air. Her ears twitched a couple of times as this happened. Rudy shook his head slowly, whispering soft ‘no’s to himself, as though that was going to make all of this go away.

And all the while, she just smirked down at him, waiting to see what he was going to do next. So far, he was just shivering on the ground. He hadn’t tried to speak, not even to try to deny that she was speaking the truth. He was just...staring at her, glaring, though she could soon start to see tears forming in his eyes. He was starting to realize the truth of her words, but he did not want to stop clinging to hope.

“N-No... Y-Y-You’re lying!” Rudy called out. “Th-They can’t be dead! You’re just trying to trick me!”

“Eh, suit yourself, kid.” Sandra shrugged her shoulders. She was not really surprised that Rudy kept on hanging onto the believe that his friends were still around. It was really quite amusing. She wondered how he would react when he found out that it was all true. “I know that nothing I say is going to convince you. Though I’m sure if I took you out to see their corpses...” She pressed a finger against her lower chin. “...maybe you would sing a different tune.”

Rudy shook his head rapidly. “No! I refuse to believe you! You’re just attempting to...”

“I assure you, Rudy. I am speaking the truth.” Sandra placed her hand against herself. “I promise you that if you were to come with me, I will show you their dead bodies.” Rudy whimpered at this, muttering underneath his breath. “They’re both dead. Mint and Penny. Gone.” She raised her hand up into the air. “I don’t think you’ll be seeing either of them again...except for the dead bodies, anyway.”

Rudy’s body trembled at this. Tears flowed down his cheeks. He shook his head in denial, still. But it was clear that he was starting to falter a little. He let out a series of low whimpers before he attempted to speak. “Y-You can’t be...no... They are a-a-alive... They’ve got to be... I-I...”

Sandra just sneered at this. “Such a naive little child... Even when I speak the truth to you, you will not believe me.” She folded her arms against her chest and leaned back. “Not that I am surprised, really. You probably don’t like the idea of trusting a ‘murderer’ like myself, eh?” She turned her head in one direction. “But I can assure you that, yes, they are dead.”

“Wh-Why...?” Rudy choked out, more tears flowing. “Why would you do that...?”

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. “Consider it part of your punishment...” Rudy’s eyes widened in horror at this.

Okay so it wasn’t really true. She had them killed off by the Beanie Boys before she decided to punish Rudy. Heck, it was before she realized that Rudy and Jyker had disappeared. So how in the world was she going to plan to punish him if he hadn’t done anything at that point?

But still, it did make for the perfect early punishment anyway. Seeing Rudy’s terrified expression almost made up for the trouble she had caused him earlier. Almost... But she still wasn’t done yet. She still had something else that she wanted to do. It was not enough to just tell him about something that she did. She also wanted him to see it, too. And to be utterly helpless to stop her.

Sandra did not waste anymore breath on the subject. She wanted to get started. The first thing she did after she rapidly closed the gap between her and Rudy was grab onto the boy. She lifted him up by his shirt collar with ease. She smiled at his growling, frightened face before she threw him aside like he was a sack of potatoes. She watched as he hit the ground with a loud thud. Then she turned her attention back down to Jyker.

“N-No... What are you doing..?” Rudy pushed himself up onto his hands. He looked over at Sandra with wide, terrified eyes. “L-Leave him alone!”

“Oh? And why should I do that...?” Sandra asked. She hunkered her body a little, back parallel to the ground. Her tail twitched side to side near the tip, her hand moving along the hyena’s back. “You are not friends with this stupid hyena. Why should it bother you what I do with him?”

“Please..just...let him go!” Rudy began to crawl over to where Sandra was. The sight was both amusing and pitiful. Sandra honestly didn’t know which one it was more. “He doesn’t deserve to get hurt! He...”

“Doesn’t deserve to get hurt?!” Sandra cried out in utter disbelief, her eyes bulging. “You really think that he is an innocent angel?!” Sandra grabbed onto the hyena’s neck and hoisted him up, ignoring any roughness that this may have caused him. “This ‘little angel’ as you think he is, he’s the one who ran me out of town before! He’s the reason I had to come to ChalkZone City in the first place!” She grinned almost maniacally. “S-So you have him to blame for what happened to your stupid little friends!”

Rudy stared at her in shock for several moments. Then he narrowed his eyes deeply and shook his head. “No... I only have you to blame.” Sandra widened her eyes. “Jyker only exposed you because you were doing horrible things. If you weren’t killing people for kicks, you wouldn’t be in this mess.”

“Killing people for...” Sandra raised her hand up, arching her fingers inward, trembling. “You little...!” Sandra forced herself to exhale, and she chuckled lowly. “Okay...if that is what you think... Okay.” Sandra lowered her head a little, her tail raising up behind her. She raised up her foot and she pressed it lightly against Jyker’s unmoving body. “Then allow me to show you just how ‘good’ I am at this.”

“W-Wait!” Rudy gasped in horror, his face paling. “Please...don’t!”

Sandra ignored him as she turned her attention to Jyker. She flashed her teeth as she stared down at him. The little fucker was still unconscious. A slight disappointment. She would have loved to hear his screams. But at least Rudy was here. He could do all the screaming that he wanted to.

And thus, she started.

She decided to start with his limbs. Turning her head to make sure that Rudy got a good view, she looked back down at Jyker, staring at his body intently. She raised her hand up and motioned slowly towards him. As she did so, something seemed to start bulging underneath his limbs. Something appeared to be growing. This continued for several moments, Rudy’s pleas echoing in the background.

Then, without warning, they ripped apart completely. Blood and flesh splattered on the ground, exposing the bones underneath. And they had been cracked, splintered in several places from her internal attack. She watched as blood still drained from the limbs. What a gruesome sight. It was beautiful.

Leaning down, she grabbed onto one of his weakened limbs. She placed her foot against his back for brace, and she began to rip his arm upwards. After a few seconds, it tore off completely. She tossed it aside letting it drop into the ground in a heavy thud. Then she began to repeat the same process on the other leg. Soon Jyker was armless.

But she didn’t stop there. Even as Jyker began to squirm a little as he was starting to come to, Sandra kept him firmly pressed against the ground as she pulled his leg away from his body. It was such an easy task with his bones weakened like that. It was almost like pulling a twig off of a tree. It didn’t take long for the second leg to follow, rendering the hyena zoner without any arms or legs.

At this point, Jyker was awake, and he had immediately started to scream. He squirmed and struggled on the ground. Though he never got that far. Not without any limbs anyway. How could he? He was nothing more than a warm. A mutant, disgusting worm, just like he had always been.

At first, it was enjoyable hearing him scream and sob, but she was getting a little tired of that. Her ears were aching too much. She was surprised that they hadn’t started bleeding yet. She decided to silence his screams a little and she seized his jaws tightly. Getting a good grip on his top jaw, she started to push the lower jaw beyond its limits. Jyker yelped and screamed at this, but this soon turned into a gurgle as she gave one more hard push down, and there was a loud, resounding crack.

Sandra released him and let him collapse into the ground. The hyena zoner’s body trembled and shook, his jaw hanging loosely, blood leaking out. He was still managing to scream, but it got more and more gurgled as time went on.

“It is a shame it had to be like this, old friend.” Sandra cooed softly. She reached down and gently stroked the top of his head. “Maybe if you had tried harder to see things my way, this would not have happened.”

Jyker narrowed his eyes as more tears flowed down his cheek. After he gave a few more sniffles and gagge sobs, he managed to say something that was very close to ‘fuck you’. Sandra widened her eyes at this and then she narrowed them. It would seem that he still hadn’t learned his lesson.

Sandra seized his tongue in her hand, the other holding his head down. She yanked back as hard as she could. The sound of ripping flesh filled the air. There was a snap and then blood pooled out of this new wound. Jyker let out a series of choked sobbing, his eyes shutting as he tried so hard to cope with the pain. His tail twitched frantically about, as though this would help him escape.

Sandra watched him coldly for several moments. She felt her mind burning with rage at how Jyker, even in the end, seemed to still refuse to see reason. A part of her almost hoped that he would at least show some remorse. After all, they had been friends at one time. Surely that would have meant something to him, right? Well it seemed that was not the case. She might as well just end this now.

Ignoring Rudy’s shouts at her to try to get her to stop and paying no mind to Jyker’s pathetic weeping, Sandra moved in closer, her talons pressing into the ground with each step. “Now, hold still, Jyker. And this will go smoothly..”

Jyker’s loud cries echoed across the room.


	31. A New Helper

No, no... Don’t worry, you’re not the only one.  
-In The Dark, DJ Tiesto

sss

Skrawl laid on the ground, his body curled in on itself. He pressed his limbs against his body. A shiver rattled through him. At first, it would seem like he was cold. But anyone seeing his wide-eyed expression knew otherwise.

It was such a strange feeling to the jellybean. He had never had to be this afraid before. He had never felt this much fear. Sure, he had felt disgruntled or upset or frustrated. He did feel some fear if he was in trouble, about to get hurt or what not. But he had never felt so...terrified before. It was a new sensation that was almost..foreign to him.

And it made him feel disgusting. He should not be the one afraid. He should not be the one on the ground, shivering and whimpering. He shouldn’t be acting so helpless. He should be the one taunting the one on the ground. He should be gloating. He was supposed to be the future ruler of ChalkZone. How was he going to rule anything if he was....like this?

Yet..what could he do? He had very little options at the moment. Or rather, he did have a few options, but he could not bring himself to take any of them. He did not feel motivated to lift himself off the ground. Not after...what had happened...

Skrawl shut his eyes tightly and flinched at the memory. He had tried for the past hour or so to get that wretched image out of his head. He couldn’t let it haunt him like that. He shouldn’t allow it to control him. Yet... He just could not help it. It would not leave him alone, no matter how hard he tried. It swirled around inside of his head, ripping into him mentally. It forced him to rewatch the incident over and over. He had no doubts in his mind that it would be etched into his head forever.

Just...why in the world had Sandra done that? Why in the world did she...hurt him like that? He just could not understand it. Nothing about it made a lot of sense. Well, not that he expected her to go easy on him. But that method she used... It was just way over the line.

He could still feel her on him. Those sharp claws digging in, her hands getting a tight grip on him... all that sensation was still there. And no matter how hard he fought, he could not get himself to get rid of those feelings. He could even still feel her... He could still... Skrawl let out a sharp sigh as he looked towards the ground. He could not even finish the horrible thought. He had done some horrible things in his life, but...they couldn’t compare to what Sandra had done to him.

So much of him just wanted to get up and run away. He wanted to get away from here. He wanted to get himself to safety. Who knows of Sandra was going to try something like that on him again? She never said if she was, but...there was no telling with her lately. For all he knew, this could very well be the case. And if she did do it again... Oh gawd, he didn’t really know how long he would even last. Once was horrible enough, but a second time? He would rather die than go through that again.

He could try to get out. He might be able to rip one of the bars out and flee. He was a strong guy. He could do it. But at the same time... He flinched as he thought of Sandra. If he wasn’t careful when he tried to get out, she might... He didn’t want to think about what would happen if Sandra were to catch him.

And then there were his own Beanie Boys. Skrawl never thought hat he’d have to fear his own Beanie Boys. It was such a strange thing. Something he didn’t think would ever be an issue. But ever since Sandra had taken control of them, using their fear against them... Even if his Beanie Boys didn’t want to, they’d be drawn into attacking him out of the terror that they felt for Sandra. It really was unfair, but..what could he do?

But he didn’t want to just sit here and do nothing. He wanted to be productive, try to find some way out of this place. There just...had to be some way to get out. But...how?

Skrawl lifted his head and he looked over at the path that had been opened when Rudy and his little friends had arrived. It had been closed, sealed up by the Beanie Boys on request of Sandra. But the tunnel was still there. He was certain of that. The Beanie Boys had only covered it up. A part of Skrawl started to wonder if he could use this to his advantage.

He might be safer in the tunnels. Sandra would have a harder time trying to get at him this way. The tunnels were a bit small and he’d be quite cramped. But he may still be able to move himself through the tunnel, and Sandra wouldn’t know where he’d be. He imagined that there was all sorts of directions that it would go, different paths that could be taken. He also would not have to worry about his Beanie Boys in here. It was too small for them to float through and they would have quite the fun time trying to crawl their way in. And their lack of a strong sense of smell worked well, too.

At first, the only thing that he could do was just lay there on the ground. He couldn’t bring himself to get up. He just...didn’t feel as motivated. Most of him just wanted to stay put, not wanting to potentially upset Sandra. He might not be crying anymore, but that did not mean that he was ready to face off against...her again.... Even he would agree that no one should go through what Sandra had done to him.

It just seemed like a good iea. He was usually not one to just..lay here and take it. He was not the type that enjoyed submitting to another. It made him feel so filthy. But for this, he felt like he could make an exception. Sandra had done such horrible things to him. It seemed to just...make sense not to try to trifle with her.

But deep down, he wasn’t really fully satisfied with this. He wasn’t sure if he could get himself to fully commit to this decision. There was still a small part of him that wanted to fight back. A part of him that wanted to make Sandra pay for what she had done. A part of him that just...did not want to take this laying down.

And why the heck should he take this? A burning sensation started to grow in his stomach as he started to push his leg up a little. No, he shouldn’t allow Sandra to walk all over him like that. He shouldn’t....

The thought of Sandra still terrified him, however. It didn’t matter how brave he wanted to ask. The truth was, regardless of what he tried, he still found Sandra to be scary. He hated to admit it to himself, but it was true. And even just thinking about her was enough to make him flinch, to shiver, to whimper. He could prepare himself, but he had a feeling that he would still react in a similiar fashion, especially if Sandra caught him off guard, which she was good at.

Yet...at the same time, he did not want to let her rule over him like this. He still wanted to show her that she was wrong about him. That he wasn’t just going to lay here and take it. He wasn’t some kind of play thing for her to mess with. She was wrong about him, and he was going to prove that to her.

He narrowed his eyes into slits. A sweeping sensation rose up inside of him. It intermixed with his fear. And though he still felt quite chilly, the welcoming warmth prompted him to start pushing his shaking body off the ground.

Yeah...he would show her.

Skrawl took a little while before he could get up onto his feet. He wobbled back and forth a bit before he managed to keep himself balanced. Even then, his body still shook and trembled, but he had a renewed confidence powering him through this. He looked over at where the opening was, and he narrowed his eyes.

He knew that this was not going to be an easy task. He had a feeling that he was going to deeply regret this. But at the same time, he was not going to take this laying down. He was not going to allow himself to be so controlled... He was going to seize back what Sandra had stolen from him. He was going to get back his freedom. And when he did...

Oh the things he was going to do to her...

sss

The sound of Jyker’s final cries, gurgles and weak, rang throughout Rudy’s head as he watched Sandra finish him off. Her teeth made quick work of his neck, ripping it out, blood splattering everywhere. His heart raced against his chest as he was unable to look away from the horrid sight, blood leaking rapidly everywhere.

The boy took in several quick breaths, his mind racing. He could feel tears pool down his face, stinging his cheeks. He felt like he was going to throw up. His lunch was gurgling in his stomach, ready to be launched out of his mouth. This sensation only got worse the longer he stared at the hyena’s dismembered body. It was impossible to look away from.

Sandra had done more than just rip off his limbs. That had been just the beginning. Sandra had soon proceeded to do more to the poor hyena. Jyker had lost his tail soon after. But not before Sandra decided to break it into a few sections. And then she proceeded to rip it off piece by piece. She really took her time with that, as though she wanted Jyker to feel the sensation of slowly losing his final limb. What a sick, twisted fiend...

She had then went for his ears. She shredded them with her teeth first, letting her teeth slice through them like they were just a piece of lunch meat that she had found. She soon grabbed onto them at the base and ripped them up completely. Then she had gripped onto his snout and crushed it, and then proceeded to grip onto his lower jaw and rip it all the way off.

Rudy was utterly horrified that Jyker had remained alive this whole time. Especially when Sandra had started to eat him like that... He didn’t want Jyker to die but he also didn’t want him to experience the agony of being eaten alive like that. Sandra tore off pieces of his flesh, mostly from his chest, side, and back. Rudy’s urge to vomit had increased when he was forced to watch this.

It took him a few moments to realize that Sandra was the reason that Jyker hadn’t died yet. She was using her powers to ensure that Jyker could live through this experience. Rudy felt utterly sickened by it. Sandra purposely prolonging Jyker’s pain.... What more low levels could she sink to?

Sandra had finally let up on him. But it was only after she had tore off his nose and consumed his eyes. It was only after she had reduced Jyker’s body into something that was not very functional, after she had destroyed almost every part of him that she could. He had been reduced to nothing more than a mere stump. She had finally decided that Jyker need not suffer any further and proceeded to kill him.

Rudy was worried that she would have given him a slow death. Instead, to his relief, Sandra went for the throat. Though the sight of her teeth on Jyker’s neck was enough to make him grip his own throat, it did give him some consolance that, as Jyker’s body began to go through the throes of death, the hyena zoner did not have to suffer anymore.

Not that this was mentally easy. When Sandra had finished and turned her attention to him, his eyes were still leaking of tears. He found it difficult to look away from Sandra, feeling them narrow, his lower lip quivering in horror. And of course, the only thing Sandra had done in return was just...smile at him.

“Now that he is out of the way...” Sandra started to speak, acting as if nothing had happened. “...why don’t we have a little chat? There is something I want to discuss with you.”

Rudy could feel his whole body trembling. He couldn’t believe that Sandra wanted to attempt a casual conversation after what she had done. A part of him wanted to crawl over there and punch her in the throat. This heartless....brutal monster... How dare she think that she could just gruesomely murder someone and then think that she could walk away from it like it was nothing... To dismiss it as though it were just a casual thing...

Sandra seemed to notice his reaction, but chose not to say anything about it. She took a few steps towards him, her arms folded behind her back. She proceeded to start pacing around him slowly in a broad circle. Rudy hissed at this. If only she had moved just a little closer...

“I have to admit, my plans for you had changed. I am..quite surprised, really. I thought I knew just wanted done to you. I thought I knew how I was going to approach you.” Sandra examined Rudy carefully, her eyes trailing over his body. “When I first broke out, my first thought was to kill you. After all, you are a promise breaker. An evil that I need to snuff out of this world..”

Rudy hissed at this. He was the evil one? Goes to show how hypocritical she is. Of course Sandra would try to make it look like she was completely innocent.

Sandra soon stopped, and she looked intently at his legs. Rudy tensed up, wondering if Sandra was going to remove them like she had with Jyker. When she didn’t make a move against him like that, he felt some relief. But he remained tense and uncertain.

“But when I saw that your legs were useless....”

Rudy looked up at her with a set of cautious eyes.

Sandra’s expression had changed slightly. From smiling to something of a frown. “Well I have to admit, I was surprised. I thought for sure you would have died from my attack. A part of me was disappointed. I felt as though I was losing my...touch. But...” A small smile returned as she chuckled. She leaned in and tilted her head to one side. “I did realize that you and I were....quite similar here.”

“How?!” Rudy called out, unable to keep quiet. “I’m nothing like you!”

“Oh I am well aware of our...differences.” Sandra narrowed her eyes as she said this. There was a tinge of anger and something close to disappointment on her voice. “But we do have something in common.” She lowered her head and she peered closely at the human. “We are both prisoners.”

What? Prisoners? What was she talking about? He wasn’t a prisoner. Only she is...was... She was no longer imprisoned as she had managed to escape. How in the world was she still a prisoner?

Sandra appeared to pick up on his perplexed expression. “Well I mean, I know I am no longer a prisoner, I was at one point. And you were and still are.” Sandra pointed a feather finger towards his legs. “While I was bound by outside limitations, yours are internal.” She reached over with her tail and carefully prodded one of his legs. “They don’t work anymore, do they?” Sandra sneered as she tilted her head to one side. “You are a prisoner of your own body.”

Rudy struggled not to show any tears to the dragon. He tried to keep them hidden behind his eyes. But he wasn’t sure how long he could manage. He could feel them burning, fighting back against him. He could soon feel them start to leak over, feeling a wetness forming there.

Of course Sandra had to go and remind him of the fact that he was never going to lead a normal life again. She had to remind him that he was limited by his own body. She had to remind him of just how helpless he was in this situation. That was just typical Sandra. Given his status as a ‘promise breaker’, he was not surprised that Sandra was trying to find any way she could to break him down further.

But as much as he wanted to shout at her, to strike at her, he couldn’t bring himself to do anything. It was just way too risky. If he dared to attempt, he could put himself in a worse situation than he was already in. As hard as it was, he had to keep his mouth sealed shut.

“Your present situation is permanent, no doubt. It has been five years. I can see you regained use of your arms....” Sandra commented coolly as her red eyes briefly went over his right arm before going back to his legs. “But your legs are still useless. I have a feeling they will never be able to move around again.” She gritted her teeth and gave a quick chuckle. “So I can say that we are even.”

Rudy’s body trembled as his mind burned with racing thoughts. He was so filled with mixed emotion that he wasn’t really sure how to respond to this or how to feel. Should he feel relieved that Sandra might not see the need to ‘punish him’ further? Should he be disgusted that she thinks that this was all fair? Should he be terrified about what she might do instead? Or should he be all three at once?

Rudy had no idea what to expect from Sandra at this point. He thought he knew, but her words were confusing him. She had the opportunity to hurt him several times, but she hadn’t tried yet. And the way that she was talking.... her tone seemed to indicate something. He couldn’t identify just what that was. And it only caused his headache to swell further.

“Indeed, you are forever trapped in a wheelchair. Part of your freedom was taken away from you. I thought that I hadn’t done a good job since you lived. But I can see that you living like the crippled worm that you are, it is so much more satisfying...” Sandra gave Rudy a broad, evil smile as she said this. “There are things worse than death. And you are living proof of that.”

Rudy felt a surge of emotion rush through him. Without realizing what he was doing, Rudy began to crawl over towards Sandra. He could feel some strange thumping behind him and he knew that it was his useless legs flopping about. He paid little mind to that as he grabbed onto Sandra’s leg and yanked on it.

“It’s your fault I’m like this!” Rudy shouted at the evil blue dragon. “You are the one who broke my neck! You’re the one who damaged my spinal cord! You are the one who stole my legs from me!” Rudy felt tears stream down his face as he continued to yell at Sandra. “Do you have any idea what it was like for me?! How I’ve been treated both in ChalkZone and the Real World?!” He paused for a moment as his vision momentarily blurred with tears. After he blinked them away, he shouted, “And it’s all your fault!”

Sandra stared at him for several moments, her eyes narrowing into slits. The sight of this caused Rudy to freeze, his heart twisting. Sandra shifted her position so that she was right in front of him. She lowered her head once more, putting it close to Rudy’s face. He could feel each breath of hers hit against him. He whimpered and he looked away, waiting for the blow.

But the blow never came. Instead, what graced Rudy was not the sharpness of teeth, but the bitterness of her words.

“You think you had it rough, human? You think you are the only one who suffered? Well you’d be wrong about that! I suffered more than you did! Do you know what it was like being locked away from everyone? To be betrayed and backstabbed? To have no one side with you when you were trying to do the right thing?! Have you ever felt rejection like that? I think not! I’m the one who had to endure five years imprisoned in isolation! I was going to end up remaining there for eternity! Do you honestly think that’s fair?! At least you have friends by your side! At least you will end up dying one day so you don’t have to worry about being crippled forever! Me? I would have to spend eternity trapped in that wretched place, all alone!”

Rudy’s eyes widened as Sandra screamed at him like that. He had not expected such an emotional outburst from her like that. Nor did he expect her to start shedding a couple of tiny tears. He was about to respond when Sandra gripped his chin and held him tightly.

In a low, cold voice, she said, “So don’t you fucking dare try to tell me about how awful your life has been...” With that, Sandra shoved him into the ground.

Rudy lifted his head and he looked up at her. He was still taken aback by the emotional speech she had given and the fact that she was crying. Well not completely. She let a few tears fall down, but that was it. Still, the sight of it caused some mixture of emotions to move through his mind, and he coudln’t help but flinch. He did feel a very tiny bit of empathy about the whole thing. After all, he did understand some of the same emotions that she was going through.

But that did not mean that he was going to side with her. She still did a lot of terrible things that she should be held accountable for. She knew what she was doing and if she had only stopped and thought about it, she could have avoided this whole mess. If she thought that her little speech was going to make him sympathize with her enough to admit that he was wrong, well she had another think coming.

Sandra panted heavily for a few moments as she recovered from her screaming. She licked her lips a few times, and Rudy could just hear how dry her throat was. The wild look in her red eyes did vanish, much to his relief. She soon smiled, tilting her head slightly to one side. She then reached down towards him. Rudy nearly jumped out of his skin when he felt her fingers pressing up against his neck.

Soon Sandra spoke, acting as if her outburst a few moments ago had never happened. “It is still incredible about how well your neck healed up.” She applied pressure, causing Rudy to whimper. She rubbed it from side to side. “Yes, this neck of yours had made a remarkable recovery. It’s almost like nothing happened.” She looked down at his legs. “Well, almost.”

Rudy bared his teeth at her. “No thanks to you...”

Sandra tilted her head to one side. “Oh yes, of course. I cannot forget that.” She pulled her head back and snapped her jaws shut quickly. The clanging sound of her teeth hitting against teeth was enough to make his heart give a chilled skip. “But perhaps...” She lowered her head again, looking intently at Rudy’s neck. “...it’s not as permanent as you might think.”

Rudy raised his eyebrow at this. “What are you..talking about..?” He asked her cautiously. “The doctors said that...”

“Allow me to demonstrate.”

Rudy could feel Sandra’s grip on his neck slightly tighten. It wasn’t much, but he still flinched at the increased pressure, his mind reeling from the flashbacks he was getting from this simple touch. He let out a soft whimper as he shut hsi eyes and prepared himself for Sandra to do something.

What ended up happening was...so confusing.

At first, it seemed like just a simple tingle. Like his neck was getting tired and it needed to be moved. But the feeling just spread along his neck a little, moving in a way that he never felt before. Almost as though something had slithered inside of his neck.

Then the sensation got even deeper. No longer just beneath the skin, it seemed to sink down and concentrate in a singular location. Rudy realized, with his heart skipping a beat, that he was now feeling some kind of strange warmth right around where the break had happened years ago. He felt waves of phantom pain shoot through his body and he attempted to struggle, only for the increasingly intense sensation to just lock him in place, not allowing him to move.

Rudy had no choice but to keep himself still. He had no idea what to expect, what Sandra was going to do with him. His body shivered and quaked as he looked up at Sandra occasionally, and then shutting his eyes tightly as he waited for her to do what it is what she wanted to do. He could feel his mind and heart racing at once, intermixing several emotions at once.

Was she going to do to him what she did to his friends..? A part of Rudy wanted to believe that they were still alive and okay. He had little reason to think that Sandra was completely honest. But at the same time, what if she was telling the truth? What if his friends were really....? He struggled to keep the thought from dominating his mind, but it was difficult to stop the tears from forming.

Suddenly, he felt his body stiffen up, the muscles locking in place. His eyes bulged open and he took in a loud gasp of air. There was a sharp yet painless sensation in his neck, and he could feel something feeling as though it was traveling along his spinal cord and throughout his nerves. Everything started to feel all tingly, and it continued to travel down and....

Rudy froze in shock when he felt his legs tense up. They remained like that for several seconds before there were a few sharp twitches, the muscles in there stretching about. And then the limbs relaxed.

But it wasn’t the fact that there was twitching that got to him. No, it was the fact that he had...felt them.

He felt something...

A wave of emotion struck him at all once. So hard, he couldn’t even think to react or speak or anything. He was just...frozen there like he had been turned into some kind of statue. He remained still for several moments, his mind struggling to comprehend what was going on. It...It couldn’t be true, right? It just...couldn’t be...

Rudy managed to turn his stiffened neck as Sandra pulled her hand away. He looked over behind him. One wary green eye watched his legs as the seconds ticked by. He licked his lips slowly, his heart pounding in his chest. He could feel a burning sensation shoot across his chest at the mere thought of what he was about to try. He licked his lips and swallowed, then concentrated on his leg. Surely it couldn’t...

The leg moved.

Rudy bulged his eyes at this, a sharp gasp sounding out from his throat. He tried a few more times, a part of him wondering if it was some kind of trick.

The process had repeated itself. Rudy could feel, actually sense, the muscles in his leg moving. He could feel the cold sensation on the ground as he moved the leg a little, and then he moved it back.

Rudy was unable to tear his eye away from this for a while. A part of him wondered if this was some kind of a cruel dream, or if somehow it was going to be far worse than he had imagined. He continued to stare at his legs, watching as they actually obeyed his brain’s directions, slowly turning in the direction that he told them to. Much more seamless than it had been with the metal contraption that his friends had drawn him.

Rudy breathed quickly as he looked up at Sandra. He could feel himself becoming frozen as he watched the way that she was looking at him. Sandra’s smile spread across her muzzle, her teeth becoming bared in a sinister grin.

“I think now is a good time to start your...re-education..”

sss

Mint still had trouble wrapping his mind around what had happened. He still had trouble knowing for certain if he had gotten everything, or if there was some detail of this he was missing. And if he was missing something, was it something that was going to be catastrophic? Or was he just overthinking this whole thing?

Well it was difficult to really fully assess that. He was still trying to recover from what had happened with Dr. Crobat. Even though it had been a decent chunk of time since it happened, his leg muscles were still shaky as he move along the pathway, and it wasn’t even like his feet were touching the ground. The familiar face of Ripclaw looked at him for a moment, her head turned so that one eye could look at him. The sight of her was certainly comforting.

But that didn’t erase the nervousness that swept through his body. He still could not fully relax, no matter how hard he struggled to do so. He could feel himself cling a bit more tightly to Ripclaw’s green feathers, and he felt guilty as he did so, knowing that he might be holding a bit too tightly for her liking.

He just..couldn’t help it. Dr. Gelcro’s words kept echoing through his head. They wouldn’t leave him alone. He was constantly reminded of what had been told, reminded of just how lucky he and Penny had been.

Seeing Dr. Gelcro was an immense relief. Or at least, it was when they had learned that he was on their side still. They had braced themselves for impact at first, wondering if he was going to try to hurt them. Thankfully, he didn’t and he had even treated their wounds the best that he could. It wasn’t much and there was very little that he could do. But at least the bleeding had been stopped and the wounds covered.

Afterwards, the husky zoner had told them about what was going on. Or what he felt was going on. He believed that the Signal was back and it was the cause of Dr. Crobat’s strange behavior. The thought of it chilled Penny and Mint. The idea of the Signal being back was too horrifying to contemplate. Mint couldn’t help but imagine all those zoners who had ganged up on him and beat him up in the city...

But despite how terrifying it was, in some ways, it was a welcome relief. If this is indeed what had been going on, then Dr. Crobat really hadn’t betrayed them; he was as much of a victim as they were. All they had to do was fine a way to keep the Signal from affecting him further.

But...why would someone be using the Signal like this? Why target only one zoner? Or had there been more? Why weren’t they affected? Why wasn’t Dr. Gelcro going crazy, too? Something about the whole thing just didn’t make any sense.

Mint wondered if Sandra could be behind it. She was the inventor of the Signal. She had been using it to alter zoner behavior. She was the reason the zoners did not notice obvious things and the reason that so much of the city started acting more aggressive. And the fact that Sandra did this at all caused Mint’s blood to boil. Not just because of how many people she hurt, but because she wouldn’t have done this if she did think she was in the right. Was she trying to fool herself?

Mint tried not to think about her too much right now. There was still a bit of ways left before they would reach their destination. Or rather, their new destination. There had been a little detour from before. It had been a difficult decision to make, but they had ultimately agreed that it was for the best.

“So how long will it take to get to the Chalk Mine from here?” Mint asked, breaking the silence. He stared in front of him to see Dr. Gelcro, who was the one ‘driving’ Ripclaw, so to speak. The husky zoner turned his head and stared back at him.

“A little while yet. We are almost out of the desert at least.” Dr. Gelcro replied. He furrowed his eyes slightly. “But not to worry. I know a shortcut that will get us there quickly.”

“I do hope you’re right. I don’t want to think of what might happen if...” Penny’s voice trailed off, her eyes widening in fear.

Dr. Gelcro flinched at this gritting his teeth. “I understand. I promise, though, we will get there and back before you know it.”

Penny nodded her head once. “Yes, I know. Once we get the magic chalk, we can draw something to help us. We can get there much faster. But...” Her eyes closed softly as she shook her head. “This is all depending on if Sandra doesn’t do something to our friends...”

At this, Mint could feel his heart stinging in his chest. That was something that he had thought of, but he struggled not to think too hard on. But it was true; Sandra might do something to Rudy and Snap before they can get back. If they don’t pick up the pace and hurry...

“That is quite an understandable frustration. I know that there was a risk in doing this.” Dr. Gelcro said in a soft, sympathetic voice. He turned his head to the side and he gave a soft sigh, his eyes slowly closing. “But remember, there was a risk before. Running back in there without any tools... We all could have been captured.”

“Yeah that is true.” Mint acknowledged. He couldn’t deny that the dog zoner made sense with that statement. “It is...hard making decisions.” He narrowed his eyes. He knew that truth all too well.

“Let’s just concentrate on getting to the Chalk Mine.” Penny stated as she raised up her hand. “The sooner we get there, the better.” She paused as she looked behind her, staring at the unconscious form of Dr. Crobat, who had been secured to Ripclaw’s tail. “And maybe we can figure out something to help him out.”

Dr. Gelcro seemed to flinch at this, sucking in a sharp breath of air. “...so do I, Penny.” His voice was laced with emotion. “So do I...”

Mint stared at Dr. Gelcro sympathetically. It must have been quite a hard thing for him to do, to hurt Dr. Crobat like that. The dog zoner had moaned earlier about how he might have caused some permanent damage. And without the proper equipment, he had really no way of knowing for certain if this held some merit or not. It was an understandable concern, however. He did strike Dr. Crobat in the back of his skull pretty hard, and unconsciousness was not something to take lightly.

Mint looked over behind him, peering past Penny so that he could see Dr. Crobat. He had been tied up with whatever material that Dr. Gelcro managed to bring. Only after he was rendered incapable of attacking should he wake up before they reached their destination did they then tie him to Ripclaw’s stiff tail, ensuring that he was not going to fall off. They weren’t about to leave him behind of course.

None of them knew if they could help Dr. Crobat, however. They had no idea how badly damaged he was, or if they could get the Signal’s influence out of him, or if that even was the case going on here. It was so difficult to tell where this would go, and this didn’t settle well for either of them.

He narrowed his eyes as he glared out ahead of him, feeling Ripclaw’s muscles flex and stretch with each stride that she made. At least they were still making progress, getting ever closer to the Chalk Mine. Ripclaw was moving at an incredible pace, at least thirty miles per hour if Penny’s calculations were correct. If Ripclaw could keep this up, they should be able to get there very soon.

And when they did, hopefully they could start to turn things around. Hopefully they could begin to make strides in their favor and push back against Sandra. He hoped that they could stop her before she had a chance to do anything too terrible.

sss

Oh, why did he ever agree to this? Why did he agree to become part of this...this conspiracy? Why did he allow himself to be talked into this? He was usually better than this. More able to stand his ground. More able to say ‘no’ when he needed to.

But something about this was just..different. He couldn’t really explain why. Maybe it was the circumstances. Maybe it had something to do with probable outcomes. Or maybe it just had to do with the fact that, well, Bell was a dear friend of his and he wanted to be faithful to him. Especially since Bell had lost a lot of friends in the past for his...unusual beliefs.

Sarando did agree that it had been a wise move not to let too many people in on this. That did make it less likely for someone to attack him for it. As much as he disagreed with this stuff, he did not think that Bell deserved to be hurt over it. He didn’t think that he could forgive himself if....

Sarando tried not to let himself feel too depressed over it. So far, nothing bad has happened and things seemed to be going their way so far. Or rather, Bell’s way. Even if he was helping Bell, he did not regard this plan as anything of his own. He would not claim responsibility for this. He’d let the bull zoner have all the credit, even if he were to defend him.

This was because, as much as he cared for Bell, he still felt a little...bitter about the whole thing. He understood that Bell had good intentions, but the way that he was going about them... He was just taking too much of a risk. He should have backed out of this while he could and try to do something else. He could have stopped himself before he went too far. And now Bell was in it so deeply that...it just didn’t seem like he was able to stop even if he wanted to.

Sarando wanted to say something. He wanted to pursuade him off this dangerous mission. He wanted to convince the bull zoner that this just..wasn’t the right way to do things. The one that he had chosen for leadership.... He was not the one that anyone would ever want. Couldn’t he see that?

No, he couldn’t. Because he had become too blind in it all. He was too desperate to get results. Too desperate to move things in this direction. Even though he knows that no one would approve of it, he was still going through with it. Such a foolish act. Sarando doubted that even the person whom he was helping would offer much aid; no doubt he would just use him. And once he was at the top, Bell would be crushed like some kind of insect.

The crane wanted to stop him. Oh how he wanted to convince him otherwise. But he was such a coward at this stuff. He could never bring himself to say anything all that much. He could only stand idly by as Bell continued to dig himself a deeper hole. This made him feel sick inside. There was Bell, sitting and waiting for him as he continued this suicide mission, while he himself was...helping him instead of trying to stop him. Here he was, going to find what Bell wanted instead of trying to do something to dissuade him. Story of his life.

Well he was already way out here. He might as well just...get this over with. Who knows? Maybe Bell would get tired of the same data and just forget all about it. Maybe something else would happen to open his eyes. Then he wouldn’t have to worry about this again.

Sarando continued to head towards his designated location. It was still going to take a little while to get there. But then, if he could slow down, he would take even longer. He would love to delay this crazy shit for however long he wanted to....but he knew that Bell would probably have his head if he were to purposely put this off, if he took too long. Regardless of his friend status, Sarando no doubt felt that Bell would assassinate even him...

That’s how important this was to him. He would go as far as kill to get what he wanted. In some ways...he was similar to Sandra. Not that he would ever admit to that.

Sarando shook his head once, clearing the thoughts out of his mind. He needed to keep a move on. He couldn’t let his thoughts delay him for too long. He could see his destination up ahead. The last place that he had known their test subject to be in. He needed to go over there soon, before he managed to get too far away.

Sarando picked up the pace and he flew over there as quickly as he could. And maybe after this, he’d finally work up the courage to try to convince Bell to stop doing this. Maybe find a more peaceful way to shift his goals. Avoid a potential disaster down the line without provoking him to attack him or do something crazy.

...Just maybe...

sss

Skrawl grumbled as he continued to squirm his way through the tunnel. He was making some good progress, but at times, he’d end up getting a little stuck. It took a while for him to get himself unstuck several times, and he had almost given up at least once. The only thing that kept him moving forward was the fact that, well, it was kind of too late to head back. There was no way he could move backwards in here. So the only option left was just to...move forward.

He couldn’t have gotten that far, though. He didn’t feel as though he had covered that much ground. He was certain that he may have only traveled a few feet. A couple of yards at the very least. Yet it was still far enough that going back was not much of a viable option. His legs could no longer reach the opening.

He couldn’t help but question himself on this crazy decision. What motivated him to try something this stupid, anyway? Why had he allowed himself to decide that going through here was really the best soltuion? He should have just stayed put. At least he wouldn’t be cramped in like this. And Sandra did leave him alone for the most part after she had.... He shuddered at the thought.

But it was too late to go back. He had to remind himself of this over and over again. He just..needed to keep up a good pace. Wriggle himself around through here. Sure there were a few moments where he scraped himself or where he thought for sure he couldn’t move anymore. And there were a couple of times where he would accidentally bang his hand or a limb or something, nearly making him cry out in pain.

But overall, he would say that he was doing relatively good. He just needed to keep heading down this way and he hoped that he would find some place where he could exit from. It might take a little while, he knew. But it would all be worth it in the end. Being free, being able to get out of this hell hole....

But most of all, he wanted to get even with Sandra. What she had done to him, he was not going to allow it to slow him down that much. He would fight through it so he would have a chance to get at her. He wasn’t even sure what he would do to her once he was able to get to her. He just knew that he was going to tear into her, rip her apart. Drive his claws into her. Through her chest, her throat, her stomach, whatever else he could get a hold of. Sandra was going to regret the day that she had messed with him.

And his Beanie Boys... His expression softened up as he thought about them. He wasn’t really sure what he was going to do with them. He couldn’t really be too aggressive towards them. After all, it was not really their fault that they were being controlled by Sandra. She had done something to them to make them too afraid to disobey her. They had only been doing this because they were afraid that she’d hurt him if they didn’t.

For now, he still had to be cautious. Until he was able to stop Sandra, his Beanie Boys were still going to be an obstacle. He still did not feel comfortable with the idea of having to run away from his own Beanie Boys, but at the moment, what other choice did he really have? He would try to go easy on them, but if he had to...

He tried to focus his mind on trying to get out of here first, though. He was not going to get to anybody while still wedged in this narrow tunnel. He was moving just as slow as ever, and he had no idea how far this tunnel stretched out. He really had no way of knowing if he was getting any closer to an exit or not. The only thing he could do was just...keep moving, and hope that he would be able to get out of here soon.

The longer he stayed stuck in here, the more he could feel his body starting to burn. Not just in frustration, but out of anxiousness. The walls seemed to start moving in against him, and he could feel his heart rate quickening, pounding against his chest. He struggled to keep himself under control, but it was getting more and more difficult the longer that he remained stuck here.

He had to get out of here. He had to get to an exit somewhere. He had to get himself free. If he stayed stuck in here any longer, he was going to freak out. His mind spun faster and faster, his eyes darting left and right. He could feel claustrophia really start to sink in, gripping his mind. His teeth clenched tightly as he seethed through them.

The adrenaline that pumped through his body in response causing him to struggle harder in the tunnel. He ignored the pain that radiated through his body each time he banged up against something hard or twisted a limb the wrong way. The only thing on his mind at the very moment was getting out of here.

This had been a stupid idea. Why did he come here in the first place? Why didn’t he stay in his cell? Why didn’t he think of something else? Stupid, stupid... Now he was trapped and he had no idea if or when he would ever get out. He was utterly trapped in here. And no one would find him. He would starve to death and then Sandra would feast on his dead corpse. And he had no one to blame but himself. He...

No.... It wasn’t he that he should blame for this. It was Sandra. It was her fault... This was all her fault. If she had just listened to him from the start...

With newfound anger joining his pounding mind, Skrawl continued to struggle against the narrowed walls. Eventually he could hear something start to squeak. He thought he could feel something moving. And this prompted him to keep struggling, wriggling himself from side to side just like before. And the longher he did this, the more pronounced those sounds became.

Suddenly, the ground beneath him had given way, causing the jellybean to fall down. He hit the ground in a loud thud, dust kicking up into the air. He shook his head and rubbed it with one hand. He coughed and wheezed as the dust irritated his airway. Then he flinched as the horrible dank smell filled the air, and he thought for sure he could smell something akin to a rotting corpse. Just what did Sandra do around here?

Well at least he was out of the tunnel. He must have found a secret entrance, and this must be an area that Sandra had tried to seal away. Or a place that neither of them knew about. He wasn’t really sure. Well, whatever. At least he was out in the open. He took this moment to stretch himself, feeling relief in his muscles as they were no longer so knotted.

After he finished stretching, he took a look around, trying to make sense of where he was. He didn’t recognize this part of the castle. And it was a little dark to really see anything too clearly. The only bit of light he happened to have was from the opening in the tunnel above him. And even that was rather faint and didn’t help him too much. His only option, he realized, was to feel through this place.

He gritted his teeth at the thought. Well, if he really did have no choice, he might as well...

Suddenly he heard something echoing through the tunnel. His eyes widened as he looked left and right. Just what was that sound?

No matter how long he listened, he just couldn’t recognize it. He could feel himself growing irritated from not knowing. There was a sense of urgency in that voice and, though he had no proof regarding this, something told him that he would be quite interested in what was going on. And who knows? Maybe this could help him against Sandra.

Skrawl didn’t hesitate for much longer. One hand on the wall, he began to make his way down the hallway, moving as quickly as he could.


	32. Most Disgusting Discovery

Delusional... I believe I can cure it all for you, dear. Coax or trick or drive or drag the demons from you.  
-Sleeping Beauty, A Perfect Circle

sss

It was difficult to say just how long this corridor went on for. He didn’t know how long he had been running down this way. Or limping; he was still sore from what Sandra had done to him. But despite that he had managed to keep up a good pace, struggling to get to this destination as quickly as possible.

Or..wherever it might be, anyway. He had no idea where he was heading or what to expect. The only thing that he knew was that someone else was here. They sounded like they were in urgent need of help. Skrawl didn’t know why he felt compelled to follow the voice. But if it meant potentially another ally against Sandra...

Well, it was best to push aside his own frustrations for the time being, right?

Skrawl had no idea how long he was going to have to keep heading down this place, though. He didn’t know how long it would take before he reached whoever had made that sound. He didn’t know how long he would remain stuck in this dark corridor, the muggy smells starting to make his head swirl around in a pounding headache. The only thing that he knew was that he had to keep moving, especially if Sandra had found out that he had escaped...

At least he didn’t have to worry about her or the Beanie Boys for some time. She might not know that he was in here and this place did not look like it had any easy way of getting into it. It had only been by luck that he was able to get into this place at all.

This could be used to his advantage later on. He might not know where he was in relationship to the rest of the castle, but neither did Sandra. He could use this as a secret passageway to get around the place and to remain as hidden as possible. It would be much harder for Sandra to track him down in here. He would be safe. Or at least, safer than he had been before.

Eventually, it seemed like he had finally reached an end of the corridor. Even though he could barely see in the dark like this, he could still see enough that he could tell that there was a wall in front of him. Usually, he would grumble and growl at this, and try to find another way around. But recalling what happened before, how he found this place through what appeared to be just solid wall, he didn’t give up hope just yet.

He placed his hand against the wall and felt around it slowly. He lightly scraped his claws a little, listening intently to the scratching sounds, trying to see if they sounded any different than what he’d expect from a usual wall. There wasn’t much of a difference, but he thought he detected something akin to a slight echo. No, not an echo... He wasn’t really sure what to call it, but it was enough to tell him that something might be on the other side.

Skrawl placed both hands on the wall and he started to give it a push and see what would happen. He wasn’t really too surprised when he found that the wall would not move. He might not be doing it the right way. Or maybe this had been sealed up good and tight. Or this corridor was just incomplete. Any scenario was likely.

So..how was he going to go about this? He folded his arms and he frowned at the wall, his mind swirling as he struggled to think of some kind of plan. There had to be a way to get through it. And without using too much force; he didn’t want to end up hurting himself by mistake.

He did notice, as he was trying to think of a way to get through, that the noises that he heard earlier had stopped. He wondered what had happened, if it was anything to be concerned about. He didn’t let himself get too distracted, however, and he focused on just trying to get through this wall as soon as possible. He could worry about that stuff a little later.

Hmm...well if the wall was slightly hollow, but still pretty solid, maybe this meant that it... No, that didn’t make much sense. But there had to be something that he could try. He just needed to think really hard about this. Think outside of the box a bit.

That was when he noticed something else on the wall. It was hard to tell at first because of the darkness. But when he moved himself closer and stared at it intently, he could see what seemed to be some kind of mark on there. A bright red. He blinked a few times, wondering how he could have missed this before. Raising up a hand, he placed it against the object and pushed down.

There was a small clicking sound, and he thought he could hear some kind of rock scraping against another rock. He took a step back as he saw, in the darkness, something moving off to the side. It took a few moments, but the wall eventually moved over to the other side, exposing what appeared to be a new tunnel. Skrawl flinched as he felt something hit up against his face. He waved his hand as he tried to fight back against the smell, and then he proceeded to head inside.

This looked a lot more rigid all around, as if some kind of large drill made this. Skrawl was perplexed by it, as well as by the door he had come in through. He knew he didn’t build this, and he had no idea if Sandra did, either.

But the mystery hardly concerned him. He focused on the task at hand, and he kept moving forward. At least this tunnel was a little better lit. There were a few small lightbulbs here, which lit the pathway, making it a lot easier for him to head on through without tripping over anything.

At the very end, which he reached in relatively short time, there was some kind of bulge with a wheel that he could turn. Skrawl would normally try to assess the situation at least a little, but he didn’t think that there would be time for that. Gripping into the wheel, he began to turn it around quickly, and he could feel the door starting to push back against him. He backed up, tugging the round, valve-like door with him and he opened it all the way.

This time, he was greeted not with another tunnel, but a more open, lit area. The walls were tall, stretching quite far upwards. He wasn’t really sure how high they were. But it didn’t matter; he needed to get through this place. At least it didn’t look like it was too far. Just a little ways down and then a turn to the side. As he headed down, he couldn’t help but imagine that he was in some kind of office building.

There was that sound again. Skrawl immediately froze at the sound as he looked left and right, trying to find the source. He realized it was coming at the end of this hallway. He wondered how the sound could have gotten all the way to where he was, but maybe these walls just helpd sound travel further? He wasn’t sure, and right now, that didn’t really matter too much. Narrowing his eyes, Skrawl headed down the lit hallway more cautiously.

Upon making the turn, he could see a large, flat wall there. But unlike the others, this was not an opaque wall. When he started to walk over slowly, he realized that this was some kind of room. A bedroom it wound seem, judging by the bed that he saw.

Strange... Wouldn’t Sandra have covered this up if she wanted the tunnel hidden? If she knew about it that its... Or if she didn’t... But that didn’t make any sense. Skrawl scratched his head as a headache spread throughout. If Sandra didn’t know about this place, then why was this....

It must be a one way mirror then. Like that thing that the cops use when they were interrogating a subject. Sandra must not be aware of this fact. No wonder nothing was done about it. Well, he might as well take advantage of this and see what was going on. He moved closer until he was nearly right up against the wall. He looked left and right, getting an idea of what was in this room.

At first, he did not see anything too interesting. Just some ordinary bedroom. Frankly, he was not interested in knowing what Sandra does when she was all by herself. He gritted his teeth at the thought of this.

But then he took notice of something else present in this room. When he saw the large kennel that recognized as Fido’s, he immediately froze. This room...it was the one that he had used when he was preparing for that one plan many years ago.

The sight of the kennel caused him to have a momentary flashback of what happened earlier. How Sandra had used his dog for a living bomb. He growled at the thought, clenching his fist tightly. While it didn’t hurt him as much as it would have if it had been a Beanie Boy, it was still the principle of the thing. Fido was his to control, not hers. And yet she had....

It looked as if the kennel was not fully empty. There was something moving inside there. He squinted his mismatched eyes as he struggled to see what was inside that thing. Even though he could see the barred door just fine, the interior of the kennel was pretty dark and it was hard to tell just how occupied it now. The only thing he could do was press himself against the wall and try hard to see just what was beyond that metal door.

Then he saw it. It took him a little while to recognize who it was. But when he did, he couldn’t help but take a sharp intake of breath.

“S-Snap...?” He managed to whisper before his voice trailed off.

He might have been enemies with Snap, but even he couldn’t help but feel a sense of horror when he saw just what kind of condition that he was in. He could see the terror in his eyes, how bruised up he was. He could see that his clothes were torn up, and there was an odd gait to him as he moved. That annoying courage that he was familiar with, it was not there. He could see nothing but an emptiness, almost vacant. That was not something that he would have expected from Snap.

He could see just what was making that sound. It appeared that Snap would sometimes let out a loud wail as he started to sob. He could see the tears flowing down his face, how reddened his cheeks were. It looked like Snap was having trouble standing. And as if on cue, the zoner collapsed into the ground, his head lowered, body shaking.

Normally, Skrawl would not care. He would just feel this zoner deserved it. But in this case, he could not bring himself to feel joy about this. Because as he stared at Snap, he could tell just what had happened.

Snap had been....

He could not get himself to finish the thought. He could only manage a soft growl as his stomach twisted in disgust. It would seem that Sandra had decided to spread her little ‘mechanism’ on someone else. Well isn’t that just like her...

It seemed that he and Snap have something in common now. In this manner, they were almost kindred spirits. Keyword there was almost. But that brought about a new question that he never thought he would ask himself. Something that wouldn’t exit his mind, and he knew the only reason was because of the fact that Snap suffered in the same disgusting way that he had.

The question was...

Should he help Snap? Or should he just leave him be?

He honestly did not know. He was going to need some time to think. And thankfully, in here, he had quite a bit of time to think about this. So the jellybean leaned against the wall, watching Snap carefully as he struggled to think of what he should do.

sss

Rudy’s mind swirled with thoughts as he stared up at Sandra. He could hear her words echoing in his head over and over again. He felt his body stiffen up and he could feel his lower lip quivering. He could feel the burning sensation behind his eyes as tears wanted to stream out even mroe. He couldn’t think, couldn’t breathe. All he could do was just...stare at Sandra, a part of him wishing that this was some sort of dream.

It was really quite funny if he looked at it from an outside perspective. He had always wanted to get his legs back. He had always mentioned to his friends how he’d do almost anything to get them back. He had been fine for a while, but the horror of not being able to walk again had sunk in deeply.

But this...this is not how he wanted them back. This is not how he wanted things to go. Sure, Sandra had restored his leg movement and feeling. She had done the one thing that he wanted so much with such great ease. But it was because of the fact that she did it that Rudy could not feel relieved for too long. In fact, it took only seconds for horror to dawn on him, as he knew that Sandra would not have done this without some sort of ‘price’ involved.

So much of him just wanted to get up and flee. To run off and try to save himself. But he could not bring himself to move once. His whole body had become stiff as a board, and his muscles had a hard time bending in any direction. His eyes were wide and he could not tear them away from Sandra’s dark grin as she stared down at him. He was utterly helpless. If Sandra wanted to do something to him in that moment, she could and he wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it.

Even if he could run... would he even be able to escape? He hadn’t used his legs in so long. The metal contraption helped by supporting his weight. But if he were to stand on his real legs, using the muscles in there to help support him...he didn’t think he could do it. He might fall over too many times as he tried to run, and that would give Sandra more than enough time to capture him.

He had no way to escape.

Sandra tilted her head to one side in an almost curious fashion. Her tail twitched out behind her, her arms folding behind her back. She licked her lips slowly as she gave a soft chuckle. “Well? What are you waiting for?” She motioned her hand towards him. “Aren’t you going to try out your legs?”

Rudy didn’t reply. He couldn’t think to even move still. The only thing that changed was that his head lowered down slowly. He could feel his neck creaking slightly and he winced at just how stiff his neck muscles had become.

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this, curling her lips back into a spartial snarl. “Really now, is that it? After all the trouble I went through to heal your legs for you, this is how you repay me?” Sandra growled lowly as she shook her head. “You really are an ungrateful little brat.” She tilted her head away at an angle, her red eyes piercing against his own. “But then again...I shouldn’t have expected less from a promise breaker like yourself...”

Rudy gulped nervously, letting out a soft whimper, as he pressed his chin against the ground, looking up at Sandra in fear. His mind wouldn’t stop spinning, and he kept asking himself the same question over and over again.

What did Sandra mean by his ‘re-education’...? And how did she plan on going about it?

Though he wanted to ask, he couldn’t bring himself to open his mouth to speak. He couldn’t think to try to get her to tell him what she planned on doing with him. There were possibilities, he knew. And on some level, he had an idea of what she planned. But it was so hard for him to make full acknowledgement of this when he was too busy shivering on the ground. He could only think to lay here and wait and see what she does. His frightened mental state knew that this was the best posture to be in at the moment.

Sandra continued to let out a low, soft growl, but she seemed to calm down rather quickly. Rudy wasn’t really sure why, but he did not care. He was just glad that she was no longer looking like she was going to crack his skull in two. She had started to move back away from him, much to his relief, and he watched as she put her back to him, her tail wriggling around behind her.

“Okay then, don’t get up. I’m sure the floor is quite lovely. Indeed, why would you want to leave it?” She held her hands out as she shrugged her shoulders. “I don’t know why I thought of restoring your legs if you weren’t going to appreciate them. But eh...” She looked over her shoulder and she stared back at Rudy. “I can always undo it, especially if you love it on the ground so much...”

The teenager felt his heart skip several beats at this. He shook his head rapidly as he saw Sandra raise up her hand to perform her task. “W-Wait! Don’t!” He cried out at her as he tried to push himself up on his hands. “Please...don’t...”

Sandra smiled at this and she lowered her hand. She said nothing as she watched the boy start to struggle up to his feet.

Rudy tried to fight against the wobbliness that was present in his arms. And as he pushed himself up, he tried to control the shakiness that shot through his legs. It was a slow and painful process. A task that was so foreign to him without some sort of aid. It took several tries and he had wound up falling into the ground more than once.

Yet he still kept going. He fought the best he could at just how unsteady he was. He could feel pressure against his leg that he hadn’t felt in a long time. His own weight pushing down on it. His legs wobbling in a rather pronounced way, side to side. He continued to push himself up, grabbing onto the nearby bars to help assist himself. Slowly, but surely, he was getting up onto his feet.

Once he got up to a certain point, his legs still noticeably bent, he fell forward a little. He let out a surprised cry and he held onto the bars more firmly. He could feel his legs laying out beneath him at such an odd angle. He felt the familiar yet foreign sensation of his legs aching, pain shooting through them for the very first time in years. Keeping a good grip on the bars, he managed to resteady himself and he struggled back up to his feet.

When he was able to stand for the first time since that incident so long ago, Rudy could feel a rush of emotion sweep through him. He was still leaning against the bars for support. He could still feel a weakness in his leg and there was still the cramping sensation from the muscles not having been used in so long. But in the end, the thing that stuck with him most was the fact that he was even standing here at all.

He stared down at his legs, taking in quick breaths as his mind still spun around with many thoughts. He wasn’t sure what to think of what happened. He had never been struck by such a confusing wave of mixed emotions. Should he feel relief that he was standing? Or horrified because of whom had given it back to him?

Rudy managed to turn his head to look back at Sandra, wondering what she was going to do. So far, she was only staring at him. But he knew that she must have more planned. After all she had apparently wanted to ‘re-educate him’. Whatever that meant.

His eyes suddenly widened. Wait...was she going to...?

He didn’t have time to finish his thought before he heard a chilling chuckle coming from Sandra’s mouth.

“Ah very nice! I see that you haven’t forgotten how to stand up. It’s like riding a bicycle, isn’t it?” Sandra held up her hand in gesture. “You were a little slow, but congratulations, Rudy. You did such a splendid job...”

Rudy only responded with heavy panting as he continued to stare at Sandra cautiously. He tried not to move too much, as though a single wrong movement would be enough for her to jump on him and attack him. He stood no chance in trying to run. Not like this. Sandra would easily capture him, and once she did, who knows what she’d do when she punished him? She might even take away his arms too...

He shuddered at the memory of that, his mind flipping through the memories like some kind of book. He had go to through...he was certain it was at least a couple of months, without being able to move. He was an utter vegetable, a solitary head against the pillow. Unable to do anything for himself. Even going to the bathroom had been impossible, and he needed to be spoonfed food like he were some kind of a baby. It was so humiliating.

And to think that Sandra could force him to live through that all over again...

Rudy struggled to push the thoughts out of his mind. It wasn’t like he had a lot of time to really worry about that. What happened was in the past. He needed to be more worried about what Sandra was going to do with him in the present. What did she have planned for him? Just what was she going to do?

Sandra started to take a couple of small, slow steps towards him. She was quite deliberate in her steps, watching as he flinched with each move, her smile spreading further. It was all some sort of game to her, and this realization caused Rudy to shudder. But there was very little that he could do against her. Not without risking himself getting even more hurt.

“I do wonder how easy it will be to teach you in this state. Maybe you will be more willing to cooperate. Oh yes, I am aware that fiddling around with someone mentally can make them..most compliant.” Sandra began to pace from side to side in front of Rudy. She was not yet close enough to try to touch him, but with the way she was looking at him, he knew that she would not hesitate to get closer to him should he do something to try to get away from her. “I think you will make a fine pupil, Rudy Tabootie. You are still so young....” She gave a soft chuckle. “There is still some hope for you, I do believe...”

Rudy gulped at this and he tried to take a step back. He felt his leg slip slightly with the step, forcing him to hang onto the bars even more. He stared at the blue dragon with widened eyes, his racing mind trying to think of just what she had in store for him. When he saw her open her mouth to continue speaking, he had a feeling that he was not going to like what he was about to hear.

Sandra looked away, staring at the bars that led to the outside. “We are so much alike, you and I.” Rudy glared at her when he said this, though it did him no good as Sandra was not paying any attention. “We both want what is best for others. We both care enough about this world to do whatever it takes to protect it.” Her tail raised up slightly at this. “And we both know what it is like to be...imprisoned.” She looked over her shoulder. “Even if the methodology was quite different for the two of us.”

“We’re n-nothing the same...” Rudy hissed through a soft, weakened voice. “You don’t care about this world. You just care about making others succumb to your beliefs! That’s not helping anyone!”

Sandra simply stared at him, her eyes narrowing softly. “Perhaps to you, it isn’t. You cannot see things my way because you have been raised incorrectly.” She raised an eyebrow slowly. “Are you sure your parents had been doing well with you?”

Rudy felt a flash of anger as Sandra said that. He gritted his teeth and growled softly. He wanted to say something, anything to her. But he could not think of anything to say.

How dare she say that... She knew nothing about his parents. She didn’t know anything about them. She had no write in criticizing them like that. She had no right to tell him that they were doing something wrong. His parents loved him and they did whatever they could to help him grow up to be the person that he was now. They had been nothing but supportive of him and....

..well, there was that time when they did not believe him when he tried to tell them that Mint pulled that fire alarm...

Rudy shook his head. No, he could not think about that. They had discussed that. They talked things out and things had been fine. He shouldn’t still be angry about that. It was no longer an issue. Yeah it was all just fine.

So why was he suddenly feeling this stinging sensation in his chest?

“Ah, it seems that they did do something wrong, didn’t they?”

Rudy nearly jolted when Sandra suddenly spoke up like that. He would have fallen into the ground if he wasn’t still clinging to the iron bars. He stared over at Sandra, his eyes widened, blinking slowly. It took him several seconds before he realized just what she had said. Attempting to look tough, he glared at her and he shook his head rapidly.

“N-Nothing happened! And even if something did, it’s none of your business!” Rudy shouted at her, baring his teeth. “S-So just shut up!”

“Oh how real mature... You just tell me to shut up without bothering to see my side of things. That’s how you’ve always been...” Sandra tilted her head to the right. “But I can see your expression there. You must have felt the same way, right? Did your parents ever not listen to you?”

Rudy struggled so hard not to react at this question. He didn’t want Sandra to get any indication of what he was thinking. But judging from Sandra’s expression seconds latr, he had completely failed at that. Something about his expression had clearly given something away. He could see the twinkle in Sandra’s eyes as she began to take a couple of steps closer to him.

“I knew it. We are more alike than I thought. You have felt what it’s like to want the best for everyone. What it is like to be a prisoner. And now...” Sandra got close enough to reach over and gently cup Rudy’s chin. “..you understand what it’s like not being listened to...”

He let out a loud grunt as he ripped his head away, hissing at her. “Don’t you dare touch me...!”

Sandra just smiled at this, like it was the funniest thing that she had ever seen. “Now that I have made my point...” Rudy narrowed his eyes further at her. Sandra acted as if nothing was going on as she lifted her head and tilted it towards the ceiling. “I am sure that things will go rather smoothly. With the proper education you will start to see things my way, I’m sure. I promise that you will begin to understand why I think this way, and hopefully..” She gave him a sideways glance. “..you will adopt my view.”

Rudy hissed through his clenched teeth. “Fuck off...”

Sandra just chuckled, her head tilting slightly up so that she could look at Rudy in the eyes, the teenager being a little taller than she was. There was no sign of anxiety in her eyes, as though she really did think that this was going to work. Rudy had no idea just why she thought that he would ever be convinced. She must really have gone insane.

Sandra paused for a moment as she looked over at what remained of Jyker’s corpse. She stared at it intently, her mouth opening up a little and licking her lips slowly. The sight of it was enough to make Rudy’s gut twist. He struggled not to throw up as he saw Sandra walk over and grab onto one of Jyker’s dismembered body parts, an arm specifically.

Sandra held up the arm with one hand and, much to Rudy’s horror and disgust, she began to bite into it and chew off large chunks of meat quite easily. With her second bite, blood sprayed out from her attempts to chew it off, and some of it got on Rudy’s face. It took all his will power not to vomit at this.

The blue dragon took immediate notice of this. “Oh dear me, I apologize.” It was hard to tell if she was being sincere or not. Either way, her words brought no comfort. “Let me get that.” She reached over with her free hand and used a couple feather fingers to roughly rub the chalky blood from his face. “There, isn’t that better?”

Rudy simply growled in response and leaned away from her. He nearly tripped over from how quickly he did this. His eyes never left her, his pupils shrinking slightly. He could feel a few tears roll down his cheeks as he watched Sandra consume the limb that once belonged to Jyker. He managed to squeak out, “H-How could you...?”

Sandra frowned at this, tilting her head in confusion. “I am not sure why you are upset. Letting the dead body rot is just a waste of meat. Why let it go useless when it can be used as food?” She made a point to bite and chew another chunk of meat a bit more loudly, the coagulated blood dripping out onto the ground. “I would never think to waste such food if I can help it.” She paused for a moment. “...most of the time.”

“You’re thinking of all those innocent zoners you slaughtered, aren’t you...?” Rudy struggled to control his anger.

“Whether or not they are innocent is up in the air. But yes...” Sandra swallowed another bite. “I have some regret in that. All that meat...wasted.” She shook her head slowly. “But it was still for a good cause.” She raised her hand up in gesture. “And besides, that giant bird more than made up for it.”

Rudy could feel a burning sensation sweep through his chest. “Now you see here! You can’t just...” He paused as he suddenly realized what she just said at the end. He stared at Sandra long and hard for several seconds, breathing in shakingly. “D-Did you just say...bird...?”

Sandra nodded her head. “Oh yes. There was a large condor flying about. I took it down so I could have something to eat for a while.” She smiled at the memory and gave a chuckle. “Let me tell you, it was quite hard getting all of the meat off of it, but it was worth it, I think...”

Rudy couldn’t hold in his emotions for long. His mind spun around and he could feel his body shake. A hand formed into a tight fist. He had never felt such a strong urge to choke someone like he did now.

This dragon...this monster... She was the one who had killed Courtney... She was the reason that bird was dead. She had killed Penny’s creation and for what? To eat? Sandra didn’t even try anything else. She just...killed Courtney just to satisfy her appetite. That...that lowly, good for nothing..

“You murderer!”

That was all that Rudy could manage to shout. His cries echoed across the room. It was loud enough to make Sandra freeze and stare at him with widened eyes. He didn’t bother answering her unspoken question. He just stood there and panted heavily, his teeth partially bared, each breath having a growly edge to it. He glared daggers at her, a part of him almost wishing that fire beams would shoot out and strike her.

His behavior had caught Sandra quite by the surprise, as it took her a while before she could think of to respond. And even when she did, her voice was a little softer than before. It was the first, and probably the only time, recently that Sandra showed any sort of caution towards him.

“Anyway...I think it’s best that we get started on the training.” Said Sandra, skipping over the whole condor ordeal completely, much to Rudy’s frustration. He opened his mouth to speak, but Sandra immediately covered his mouth. “Shush now, class is in session.” She removed her hand from him before he had a chance to bite her. She raised a finger up. “Pay attention to teacher...”

“Nothing you do or say will make me side with you...” Rudy growled softly. “...you monster.” He added, his eyes nearly glowing with emotion.

Sandra ignored this as she continued, “Now, let me start off with the first lesson. Since you do not understand the importance of the promise, I think I should begin by giving you an analogy. Ever known what it is like nearly falling down a flight of steps?” Sandra turned her head to one side. “Oh I’m srue you have. We all did at one point or another.” She motioned towards him, her other hand still gripping the partially eaten arm of Jyker. “And how you hope that your body will not betray you? Or any of the elements around you? Hoping that you will be able to get yourself to rebalance and not fall and hurt yourself. It would only take a small amount of betrayal, a tiny push, and then...” Sandra tightened her hand into a fist.

Suddenly, Rudy felt a sweeping sensation go through his spine. This one was much less welcoming than the last one. A more chilling, sharp sensation. He could feel his legs go numb in a matter of seconds. With a loud cry, Rudy collapsed into the ground, coughing and wheezing. He tried to move his legs, but this time, they weren’t working. They were as broken as they had been at the start of all this. Rudy looked up at Sandra in horror.

Sandra just grinned viciously down at him. “Case in point....” She hissed through her clenched teeth. “This...is what you are doing when you break a promise, dear Rudy. You are the one knocking them off their precarious perch and down they fall. Oh if only you had been smart enough and caring enough to be there to help them...”

Rudy simply laid there as he watched her with widened eyes, unsure of how to respond to her. What could he say to that? Especially when his mind was locked in raw emotion, a fleeting sorrow striking him as he once again experienced what it was like having his legs taking from him again.

Sandra stared at Rudy for several moments before she lowered herself onto one knee in front of him. She reached out, smirking as Rudy flinched. She began to stroke his hair gently. “I think you will do well in this class, Rudy Tabootie. I am sure it might take a little time, but don’t worry...” She gripped his chin tightly. “You will get the hang of it...” Rudy was unable to tear away from her gaze, a few tears strolling down his face. “...eventually...”


	33. Chase Down

And we'll run for our lives  
-Run, Snow Patrol

sss

“Rudy Tabootie is what?!” Biclops practically shouted, his voice ringing all around. He didn’t look like he could close his mouth; it has practically hanging down to his feet. Well figuratively speaking that is.

Penny wished that she could say something to lighten up the situation. Something that would make things seem not as bad as they really were. But she knew there was nothing that she could say. Things just looked quite grim all around. She took in a deep breath and sighed before she replied. “Yeah, it’s true. He and Snap are both being held prisoner by Sandra.”

Biclops’s face seemed to pale a little more than it already was. “But..she was arrested...”

Mint let out a growl through gritted teeth. “You mean that you haven’t heard the news?!” He raised his hands up into the air. “I know it was recent and all, but come on!”

Biclops narrowed his eyes. “In case you forgotten, Mint, I have to guard the Chalk Mine. I am here almost all the time because this work is a full time job. Leaving it alone even just for a little while could spell disaster!”

“Oh yeah? Like what?” Mint inquired.

“Like someone trying to destroy it.” Biclops hissed softly. “Like how Skrawl and Craniac 4 tried to years ago.” Mint widened his eyes at this. Biclops jerked his head towards Penny. “Ask her. She was there, too. Though I wonder why she hadn’t...”

“Maybe I did tell him and he forgot but...” Penny paused for a moment. She blinked her eyes a few times. Then she narrowed them, glaring at both Biclops and Mint. “Why are we even wasting time on this? We need to get back there before Sandra...” She gripped the sides of her head, trying to calm herself down. “Okay...” She exhaled slowly before turning to stare at Biclops. “We just need to get some magic chalk and we will be on our way.”

“Indeed.” Dr. Gelcro finally spoke up after being quiet most of the time. “We don’t have much time to waste.” He raised his paw up in gesture. “We would appreciate it of you could loan us some pieces of magic chalk so we can rescue Rudy and Snap and stop Sandra.”

Biclops breathed in deeply, his chest inflating for a moment. He then exhaled softly. “Yeah, sure. Sorry about the delay.” He glanced at Mint and Penny. “I will get you some now. Hold on.” The massive zoner turned and began to make his way into the Chalk Mine.

“Wait!” Dr. Gelcro shouted as he took a step forward. His hand was outstretched towards the giant as though to grab onto something.

Biclops stopped as he and the two humans stared at Dr. Gelcro in confusion. “Yes? What is it?”

Dr. Gelcro motioned towards the body of Dr. Crobat, who was still unconscious and still tied up. “Do you mind keeping my friend here? I mean...you have some kind of cage you can put him in, right?” Upon seeing Biclops nod his head, Dr. Gelcro gave a small, weak smile. “Okay, that’s good. I’d like to keep him here, at least caged. I think he will be safer here.”

“I see.” Biclops stared at Dr. Crobat’s prone form. “And why is he like that anyway?”

Penny realized that they hadn’t told Biclops about the Signal’s return yet. She didn’t know why they hadn’t mentioned it, but she did realize quickly that there hadn’t been that much time for that. They had come here to get magic chalk and then leave; there was almost no room in there to tell him about the Signal. Well, it was best to keep him on the up and up. Otherwise, he might end up letting Dr. Crobat out and...

A part of her wondered if leaving Dr. Crobat here was a good idea. After all, if he managed to escape, he could do a lot of damage. Of course, they didn’t really know what he would do. The Signal was highly unpredictable. And in the end, it was risky leaving anyone questionable in the mines unless they were adequately secured.

Then again, was it really that big of a deal? The Chalk Mine was usually a secure place and Biclops was one hell of a guardian. If he could keep intruders out, surely he could keep Dr. Crobat in check. Especially if he was caged. And if Sandra or whoever was controlling the Signal tried to get him out, they’d have to face Biclops. And another plus was that, according to Biclops, the Signal didn’t seem to be able to penetrate these walls. Not because of the thickness; he theorizes it was the magic chalk’s presence that was doing something.

Quite an interesting thing. Penny had wanted to study on that, but since the Signal had disappeared, there didn’t seem to be a need for it. But since it’s back....

For now, they had something else they needed to do.

“The Signal is back.” That’s all she said. A simple, to the point statement.

And that was all Biclops needed to hear before his eyes widened. “Wh-What..? The Signal is...back?” His voice was barely a whisper, and it sounded as if it was taking a lot of effort for him just to speak. “I...I can’t... How did...” He stammered, tripping over his own tongue. It was clear that he was having a hard time comprehending this.

“It’s true.” Dr. Gelcro spoke up. “It all adds up.” Looking down at Dr. Crobat, he continued, “He’s exhibiting the same symptoms. Strange behavior. He had attacked these two creators.” He flinched as he pressed a hand to himself. “And he almost got me, too. If it weren’t for Ripclaw...” He looked over at the green, feathered dinosaur who stood a few feet away. “..I would not have survived.”

Penny and Mint exchanged looks with each other. This hadn’t been the first time that they heard this, but even hearing it again, it still had the same impact upon them. They both looked over at where Ripclaw was. They felt a sense of gratefulness that she had acted as swiftly as she did. They didn’t understand how she had managed to find Dr. Gelcro, but they were glad that she did.

After a few moments, Mint spoke up. “So yeah, the Signal is back and we are sure that Sandra might be behind it. So we need to stop her.” He stopped for a moment, his eyes narrowing. “And of course, save our friends.”

Biclops stared at them for a few moments. He looked as if he was having a hard time digesting all of this. Not that Penny was surprised. This was all quite hard to take in. Biclops apparently had been unaware of Sandra’s escape due to being isolated in the Chalk Mine. So hearing all of this that went on...oh man, it must have been overwhelming for him.

At least he knew now. Even if it was late, even if they wished that they could have told him sooner, at least he knew just what was going on. And that was important. Now Biclops was on the up and up about the situation, so Sandra can no longer take him by surprise.

“Well, okay.” Biclops spoke up. “I will....do my best to keep Dr. Crobat here safe.” He looked down at him. “I do not know if the Signal left his mind or not. He might still be aggressive for a while.” He shut his eyes softly and shook his head, as though remembering what happened to the other zoners. “But however long it takes, I will do what I can.” He offered the three the best reassuring smile that he could muster. “I will try my best. I promise.”

Penny smiled back at him, feeling a wave of relief rush through her. “Thank you, Biclops.”

sss

Skrawl was torn in what he should do. He remained quiet as he watched Snap for several moments, his mind sifting through several thoughts as he tried to figure out a course of action. He just couldn’t decide what he should do. Should he leave? Or should he get Snap out of there?

It was quite a funny thing, really. Hadn’t he tried to kill him before? Oh yes, he remembered that well. He had taken him when his back was broken and he had slashed it and he had tried to have him and Penny killed in order to get to Rudy. He didn’t feel any sense of guilt in that. It was quite a clever plan of his and he couldn’t feel any shame in that.

So why was this time different? Why did he feel it was too difficult to leave Snap in this condition even though he’s done horrible things to him before? Why couldn’t he just turn around and run off and find another way out of here?

He knew exactly why. It was because of what Sandra did to him. Skrawl might not be the nicest person, and he would fully admit that, but even he would not wish something like that upon his enemies. Even he would not go that far. Just like he had thought before, he and Snap were, in a way, kindred spirits, in that they were both hurt the same way. This thought did not waver and he still believed it.

Though of course, his reasoning was not really entirely based on selfishness. If anything, he was being just as selfish as he’s always been. There was another reason that he was considering getting Snap out of there. He had told himself this a few times before, but it was still just as true then as it was now.

He wanted another ally against Sandra.

It seemed that Snap was not affected by Sandra’s spell. He was still terrified, yes. But he recognized that this wasn’t the same kind of fear that the Beanie Boys had. No, there was something different in his eyes. Something that told him that there might still be a chance to sway Snap to his side. If anything, he imagined that Snap would be glad to get out of that cage and on his way to a more safe location. Then he could keep the little runt around so he’d have at least someone to have his back if Sandra came and..

Hmm, but would he be willing to help him, even if he were capable? He wasn’t sure how badly hurt Snap was, so he might not last that long. And on top of that, they were still enemies, weren’t they? Would Snap even want to help him, even if they were stuck together. Well, the small blue and white zoner might not be stupid, but still....

He shook the thoughts out of his mind. He was wasting enough time as it was. He needed to act now while Sandra was still away. He had to get Snap out of there now, while he still had a chance. He didn’t know yet what he’d do with Snap after the danger had passed. But that wasn’t his concern at this very moment. Besides, he can always figure something to do later on.

Skrawl looked around as he tried to find some way to get in there. There should be some way to get inside, right? He just needed to look around carefully and...

Ah, looks like there was a button to get this open. Further proof that this thing had been designed on purpose. He still had to wonder about the origin of those tunnels, but for now, he’ll just concentrate on getting Snap. He wondered how difficult it would be, though he can’t imagine Snap putting up much of a fight. Not if it meant a chance to get out of here.

Placing his hand against the button, Skrawl could hear a click and then the sliding of something hard against another hard object, just like before. He flinched at just how loud it was. Okay, not as loud as it could have been. But it was still quite a bit squeaky, almost like nails scraping a chalkboard. He covered his ears up to protect them from the sound as the wall opened up in front of him.

A part of him was worried that Sandra might be able to hear this. But he dismissed that worry quickly. If Sandra had taken notice to it, he would have heard her loud roar at this point. Or at the very least, her bursting through the door at top speed. But there was nothing. And the door stopped moving completely a few moments later, so it didn’t really matter.

But he knew it was still best to be careful. He didn’t want to do anything that could potentially cause any problems. He didn’t want to accidentally jinx himself or anything. So as he stepped out of the hallway and into the room, he was slow and careful, doing whatever he could not to make a sound. It was a little hard moving forward without his claws tapping, but overall, he felt that he was doing a relatively good job.

Slowly, taking his time, Skrawl began to make his way over to where the cage was located. He could see it situated just in front of him, only a few feet away. He felt a sense of relief at this. It shouldn’t be too hard to grab Snap and get out of here fast, then.

He could see that Snap hadn’t noticed him yet. The zoner had turned away, possibly thinking that Sandra was the one coming in after him. The small zoner was shivering a little, letting out a few small cries. This made Skrawl pause for a moment, noticing just how much like himself Snap was acting. He paused for a moment, and then shook his head and continued on forward.

All the while, Snap didn’t look over. He didn’t speak. He could only curl up into a ball and whimper. A part of Skrawl wanted to roll his eyes and comment on how pathetic he was acting. But another part of him felt a tinge of sympathy, since he had been through exactly what Snap was crying about.

It didn’t take Skrawl too long to reach the kennel. He stopped in front of it roughly about a foot away. He took a moment to stare at Snap’s shivering form, shaded in the darkness of the kennel. He watched him for several seconds, trying to think of just how to approach this. He had to wonder if this was even a good idea at all; if he was this scared, would he listen to him?

Well if it meant a chance at getting away from Sandra, then he was certain to be more cooperative. It just...might take a little convincing.

Skrawl decided to get it over with as soon as possible. Not like he had a ton of time anyway. If he didn’t do this as soon as possible, then they were going to run into problems later. No doubt this will be just a one time thing. Sandra would track his smell to this door thing and eventually figure out there was something there. Then she would have him hunted down.

His eyes widened at that. He didn’t realize that would be a problem until now. How could he have been so stupid? He knew about Sandra’s sense of smell and he had forgotten about it somehow. He tried hard not to slap himself in the face.

He pushed the thoughts aside for now. He’d figure something else out. For now, he needed to take this chance to grab Snap before Sandra came back.

Skrawl struggled to think of what to say at first. But he soon defaulted into what he knew would work. It wasn’t the most graceful or gentle of entrances he could make. But at least it would get the small zoner to actually look up at him.

“Hey! Quit your crying and get up!” Skrawl demanded, his voice a little louder than he had intended it to be. He grabbed onto the bars with one of his hands and started to shake it, causing the kennel to move about a little. “We don’t have time for you to lay around and blubber like that!”

Snap let out a loud cry of surprise as he was knocked to the side by the force of the shake. He trembled as he forced himself to look up at where Skrawl was. He blinked several times, his eyes widening. It seemed to take him several moments to realize that he was not looking at Sandra. His eyes flickered in a mixture of emotion as he managed to utter, “...S-S-Skrawl...?”

The jellybean simply narrowed his eyes at this. “Who did you think I was?” His voice was laced with sarcasm. He couldn’t help it. Old habits died hard. He didn’t give Snap a chance to reply before he continued. “Well what are you waiting for? A written invitation?” Snap looked at him in confusion as he motioned his hand out towards him. “Get up. We are leaving.”

Although fear still shined on his face, now confusion started to sweep over, altering the blue zoner’s expression. Snap couldn’t help but stare at Skrawl for several moments, his eyes blinking slowly as he tried to make sense of the situation. He licked his lips slowly, his mind’s gears clearly turning, before he said tentatively, “What’s going on here? Why are you...?”

Skrawl didn’t want to waste anymore time. Sandra could be back at any moment. He couldn’t hear her yet, but he knew that once he did hear something, it was already too late. It was best to just take full advantage of the time that they had now.

Even though he knew it might not be a good idea to move too fast, especially with Snap still being in such a confused and frightened state, Skrawl took action. Hooking his claws around the latch in front of him, he pulled it up swiftly and allowed the door to swing open. Then he took a step forward and he reached out towards Snap.

“W-Wait...I..” Snap whimpered softly. Skrawl ignored him and grabbed onto his cape. “Skrawl, stop! Please!”

Skrawl yanked Snap out of the kennel and held him up as though he were some kind of cat. He watched Snap struggle under his grasp, desperately trying to strike out against him in an attempt to free himself. Skrawl took a moment to smirk at this. It was almost...cute the way Snap struggled like this.

He didn’t stare for long however. They needed to get a move on. Taking a moment to look around to make sure that Sandra was still not close by, Skrawl made his way towards the entrance that he had come in from in the first place. It took him only seconds to reach it. He stepped into it and pressed the button to close the pathway, ignoring Snap’s confused and questioning cries as he did so.

Then, not wasting anymore time, never bothering to answer any questions, Skrawl began to walk back down the corridor, carrying a struggling, frightened, and confused Snap with him.

sss

Sandra narrowed her eyes as she watched Rudy fall into the ground. She let out a soft sigh and shook her head left and right. “Wrong answer, Rudy. That is not how you treat the situation.”

She paused as she watched Rudy push himself up onto his arms. The young boy lifted his head up to glare at her. Not like it did much to intimidate her. She could see the fear in his eyes, the way that his mouth was open and panting. Oh yes, the fear shined strongly there, making him keep his mouth shut. He knew his position in this place.

It was just a shame that he was not using this time to actually listen to her more carefully. She did not expect him to get everything right in her little ‘class’, but she had expected better of him. He’s not an idiot. He had some intelligence in there, if he would just look deep inside of himself and just...listen.

This had been, what, the fifth wrong answer in a row? And just when she thought he had been improving... She let out a sigh and shook her head. It seemed that it might take her a little while longer than she thought to get the ball really rolling. Rudy was quite far gone, she realized. It was going to take a lot more teaching than what she started off with in order to get him back on the right track.

But she would do it soon enough. She’d find a way to get Rudy to see things her away. And once she did, she would have the Great Creator on her side. She would have his protection. She would be free to do whatever she wanted. And with a creator at her side, it would be easy to do things she thought of before but could not, such as expanding...

She was still quite willing to kill Rudy. A part of her still wanted to do that. But she figured, why not try something else? She could avoid killing him and all that talent if she were to teach him some valuable lessons. He could end up being quite useful to her. And if he could become useful, well why waste him? Rudy did have potential in him. A way of leading a much more productive life. He just had to be willing to listen to her, willing to open his eyes and see the truth for what it really was.

And that, she acknowledged, may take more time than she thought. But they’d get there. She just had to keep trying.

Sandra lowered herself down onto one knee. She reached out and she grabbed onto Rudy’s chin, holding it tightly. She forced it up roughly as she glared into his eyes. “I sure hope that you aren’t slipping up on purpose, Rudy. I worked hard to set this up for you. I could have killed you, but instead I chose to spare you and try to teach you right from wrong.” She leaned in closer, her eyes narrowing further. “Are you trying to make me mad? Are you trying to put my mercy to waste?”

Rudy didn’t answer. He just stared up at her with narrowed eyes and gritted teeth. He tried to jerk his head back. Sandra only tightened her grip as she glared at him, practically staring right into his soul. Rudy moved his head as far back as he could, attempting to turn it to the side a little as he watched her carefully.

Sandra did feel a bit peeved that he wasn’t answering. Then again, should she really be all that surprised? She didn’t really think so; Rudy was quite a stubborn egg to crack. He wouldn’t want to attempt to answer. Not just out of fear, but out of stubborness; he wouldn’t want to admit that he was wrong. That hurdle would be tough to get over. But she had a feeling that she could eventually get him to realize the error of his ways and he would be quite compliant.

Sandra let out a small sigh and lowered her head, closing her eyes for a moment. She then glared softly at Rudy before she pushed him back into the ground. She watched with cold eyes as he hit the ground painfully. She took a step back and kept looking at him as he used his hands to push himself up a little. He looked up at Sandra with that same expression as before. Sandra gave another shake of her head before she put her back to him.

“I will try another question. I should hope that you’d be able to answer this one correctly.” Sandra raised a hand up in gesture, her head turning slightly towards her left. “If you promised someone you’d help them locate some new store they’ve been wanting to see, and then you get a call about someone else needing help with, say...finding their lost coat...” She turned her head further so that one of her crimson eyes could see Rudy on the ground. “...which one do you choose?” She flicked her tail slowly to one side, arching the tip upwards.

Rudy remind silent.

Sandra narrowed her eyes. “Do not stay quiet for too long. I want an answer out of you.” She raised an eyebrow up, her red eye glinting. “And do choose wisely, Rudy. I know you have it in you. Tell me...who would you choose to help?” She turned herself around to face him directly. “Who should you choose?”

Again, Rudy didn’t answer. At least, not right away. He just kept staring at her intently, as though she would strike him if he dared look away even for a second. It was quite obvious that he heard the question loud and clear; it was just, he was having a difficult time getting himself to answer. And she knew exactly why.

The little teenager was having a conflict inside of his mind. Two sides of him must be battling it out as he tried to figure out just what to say in response to her question. He must be trying to figure out just which answer he should choose.

No doubt his more wretched side would choose the one who did not make the promise prior. That side of Rudy did not care for the well being of others, and would surely try to sway him off of the right path. Poor little human. She couldn’t imagine having a mind like that, where a part of her constantly tried to get her to do something as terrible and unforgiveable as breaking a promise.

But she also knew that at least one small part of him, the one who knew right from wrong, knew which was the correct path to take. She knew that, somewhere in Rudy, he knew full well that taking care of the one who promised first was the best path to take. Regardless of the urgency of the second one, making a promise puts that priority on top of the list.

But she’d have to wait and see if Rudy would choose the right answer or not. If he did not... Well, she would just have to keep working on him. She did believe that he could do it. He just needed a little bit of guidance. Despite her irritation, she had to try to be as reasonable with him as she could and patient. He was a new student after all. He needed more time than, what, and hour before he’d start to show any strong signs of improvement.

Rudy opened his mouth slowly, looking as if he was ready to reply. Sandra’s ears lifted up and she stared at him intently, waiting for the answer. She coud feel her heart tugging at her chest, really hoping that he would show her some sign that what he was learning would stick to his mind.

However, Rudy didn’t get a chance to do so much as squeak a word when they were suddenly interrupted.

“Sandra! Sandra!”

The blue dragon flinched as she heard one of the Beanie Boys shouting at her. She lowered her ears and growled softly. “I’m busy right now. What do you want?!” She whipped her head over and she glared over at where the noise was coming from. She could see a Beanie Boy darting towards her so quickly, she was amazed that he could even stop at all.

The Beanie Boy hovered there and panted heavily, his tongue hanging out. “S-Sandra.. I-It’s....”

“What is it?!” Sandra growled through her clenched teeth. Her lips were curled up to expose her razor sharp fangs. She struggled hard not to do anything against the flying zoner. “This had better be important for you to interrupt me!”

“I-It is... It’s...” The Beanie Boy opened his mouth a little wider as he struggled to breathe. “They.... They escaped...”

Sandra immediately froze at this, her eyes going wide. She stared at the Beanie Boy in silence for several moments before she spoke with a rigid jaw. “What..did you say...?”

“They escaped!” The Beanie Boy wailed as he raised his arms up into the air. “Skrawl and Snap! They’re both gone!”

“What?!”

Sandra widened her eyes in shock at this, her mouth hanging open. How did... She looked over at Rudy. He couldn’t have done it; he had been with her the whole time. She narrowed her eyes at his smug little smile. Of course he would be happy about this. But she knew that the situation was quite serious.

Looking back at the Beanie Boy, she spoke in a soft, careful tone, “Are you absolutley sure? Did you check everywhere?”

The Beanie Boy nodded his head once. “Y-Yes, ma’am. They’re nowhere to be found.” He raised his arms up in a small, slight shrug. “We looked everywhere! We can’t find them. It’s like they just...vanished...”

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. “Vanished...” She repeated softly, as though to taste the bitterness of it. She took a moment to look down at Rudy before she returned her gaze to the Beanie Boy. It would seem that her little session with Rudy would have to wait. “Let’s take a little trip to Snap’s room...”

sss

Sandra could feel her blood boiling, heated up so much, she was honestly surprised that it wasn’t burning through her blood vessels. Her mind spinned inside of her head, her hands forming into tight fists. A part of her didn’t want to think that Snap and Skrawl would be that stupid. Then again, she could not forget what happened with Rudy and Jyker...

She still couldn’t believe it, though. Out of all of them, she thought she had those two the most under her control. She toyed with them, played with them until they shattered. She thought that they’d never do anything against her again. She thought she had them as putty inside of her hands.

Well it would seem that she was incorrect. Now those two were loose somewhere in this building, and she needed to figure out just where the heck they could have gotten to. She knew they couldn’t have gotten too far, though. There wasn’t many places left that needed to be checked. And once she figured out where they had gotten to, oh boy were they going to pay for it...

It didn’t take her long before the Beanie Boy had managed to take her back to the room where she had kept Snap. She turned to the Beanie Boy and made a gesture for him to remain in the doorr. She would rather look around by herself, no distractions.

Making her way inside, it took her only seconds to realize that the air did indeed smell different. She lifted her head up and turned it left and right, taking in deep whiffs of the air, confirming her suspicion. Snap’s scent had gone down. He had indeed left the room.

Just to be certain, she looked over at where his kennel was. The door was wide open and she could not see that blue zoner anywhere. She lowered her ears and let out a soft growl. He was gone, the little sneak. But...but how? It should have been impossible for him to get out. He must have had outside help. But who would have been able to...

Skrawl...

The blue dragon zoner could detect the jellybean’s scent in the air. She turned her head and she stared at the direction it appeared to be coming from. Her body tensing up, her tail swishing from side to side, she made her way over there slowly, letting out a constant, low growl.

It took her only moments to reach a dead end. She blinked in confusion a few times, turning her head from side to side. This was it? This was where the trail led? But it made no sense. There was nothing here but wall. How could Skrawl and Snap have come over this way if there was nowhere to go? It wasn’t like there was a ventilation shaft that they coud easily get to. And this scent was in the wrong location anyway.

Sandra clenched her teeth tightly. Just what the heck was going on here? Why was the trail leading up to here? Up to this wall? Did something.... No, it couldn’t be. It wasn’t like Skrawl could go through a solid wall or anything.

She froze at that statement. Go through a solid wall.... A part of her didn’t want to believe it. It seemed too ludicrous. But was it really? She was living in a world where drawings came to life, for crying out loud. This was on the same level as that. She shouldn’t dismiss it unless he found proof or not if this was the case.

Narrowing her eyes, she began to move closer to the wall, staring intently at it. Lifting her head and reaching over towards it, she placed her hand against the wall. She moved it around carefully, feeling the cold hard surface underneath. It certainly did feel solid... But something about this didn’t feel right. Something felt off about it. She couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

She formed a small fist with her hand. She pulled it back and struck against it. She ignored the small bout of pain as she listened intently to the sound that her striking made. She noticed that it sounded...spacier than what she’d expect out of a solid wall. She narrowed her eyes into slits. She knew instantly what this meant.

There was something behind this wall.

That would explain it... Everything clicked into place. One of those two zoners had found a secret passageway that even she was not aware of. She guessed it had to have been Skrawl who had gotten out, though she could not fathom how he did it. And then he grabbed Snap for some reason and just left. She imagined that he was still in the hallway, trying to get far away from here.

She frowned at this. She would figure out how he got out later. Right now, she had to take action before Skrawl and Snap managed to get too far away. Turning her head, she barked at the Beanie Boy.

“Go get the others and get your sorry asses back here! You are going to tear down this wall and then you are going to chase down our two fleeing ‘guests’ and you are to bring them right back to me! Do you understand?!”

The Beanie Boy nodded his head. Without saying a word, he immediately turned and fled down the hallway, calling out for his comrades.

sss

Snap was not entirely sure what to make of this situation. It was so unprecidented. Should he feel relief? Or should he feel terrified? His mind was so conflicted, having such a hard time deciding. He could feel his head just ache and throb.

Never in his wildest dreams did he think Skrawl would ever help him.

Skrawl was his enemy, right? He was just an evil jellybean bent on world domination. So cheesy and corny, yet it still made him a huge threat to ChalkZone. He had caused so much destruction before, one of the worst being the time when he had controlled Mint and used him to spread chaos all over ChalkZone.

And then there was the time that he had captured him and slashed his already broken back. Skrawl had shown absolutely no concern for him before. He had been intent on just killing him, or at least enslaving him.

So...why in the world was Skrawl helping him? Why did he open up the cage door and drag him out of that place? Was Skrawl really trying to help him? Or was he just taking him somewhere so he himself could do something to him? Snap was leaning more towards the latter, but was it possible that the case could be the former? It didn’t seem possible, but...maybe this time around, given this present sitation, that could be the case.

“Hurry it up!” Skrawl growled at him. His massive form continued to move down the dark tunnel, his hand gripping his arm tightly. He gave a hard yank, causing Snap to let out a yelp of surprise. “No time to diddle dally! Get those legs working and move!”

Snap panted heavily. “I’m trying, okay? I really am!” He gave another pant, his eyes shutting for a brief moment. “Why are we in a hurry anyway? They can’t see us in here, right?”

Skrawl shook his head. “No, but I guarantee you Sandra will smell us!” Snap widened his eyes at this. “So keep moving! We need to get distance between them before she decides to come after us! We might be able to find a place to hide if we move quickly enough!”

Snap could feel his whole body becoming cold and numb at the mention of Sandra. His eyes bulged and he couldn’t help but let out a few small whimpers. He had almost become utterly frozen in place, his muscles stiffening up. He could feel his feet dragging more as he had an increasingly different time moving them.

The very name of Sandra was enough to make him have flashbacks. He struggled to ignore them, but they just kept coming. Flash after flash things that Sandra had done to him not so long ago.

How she had touched him.. How she kissed him... How she had played with him...

Snap could feel tears start to form in his eyes. The raw horror and terror that spread throughout his body caused him to tremble. His body experienced several flashing intervals of hot and cold. He was momentarily unable to hear what Skrawl was saying, nor could he pay attention to where he was. At the moment, all that he knew was Sandra, and all that he could see was her face and the things that she had done to him. He could feel his mind swirling with terrible thoughts and it took all his strength not to break down.

He just...couldn’t believe that she had done that to him. How could she have done that? He knew that she was crazy, but.. To...To do something like that to him... She had really gone off the deepend. If he didn’t realize the mistake of locking her in jail before, he certainly knew it now. If only they had just given her the death sentence, he...

“I said get a move on!” Skrawl shouted as he gripped Snap hard and then gave him a rough tug.

Snap let out a cry when his feet tripped out from underneath him and he was sent flying through the air for a second before he hit against the ground. He gritted his teeth as Skrawl dragged him along the ground like he were a sack of potatoes. Snap took a few seconds before he could manage to scramble up to his feet. He shot Skrawl a glare, but the jellybean just shrugged his shoulders.

“Just keep up next time, shrimp!” Skrawl hissed at him.

“Well you don’t have to pull me so hard!” Snap called out to him, momentarily forgetting about his fears regarding Sandra. “I can run just fine on my own!”

Skrawl gritted his teeth at this. “Yeah right! When I let you run earlier, you were so slow that...”

“I was doing fine! Besides, it wasn’t like you told me that Sandra was right behind our tails!”

“You knew that she could come at any moment! Don’t give me that!”

“Oh yeah? Well I...”

Snap suddenly paused, freezing in place. He didn’t pay any attention to Skrawl’s sneers as he listened for something that was in the air. Barely audible. Barely detectable. But it was there. That familiar sound that had become rather chilling given the context they were placed in. Slowly, he turned his head and looked down the tunnel.

He couldn’t see anything just yet. But he knew something was there. He could hear that sound in the air. A slight buzzing noise. The sound of propellers turning. His face felt as though it was losing its color, the blood washing away rapidly, feeling like it was dripping to the ground.

And all the while, the sound continued to get louder and closer. It was like a pack of hunting dogs or something, closing in on its prey. Snap just could not move as he continued to stare down the hallway, licking his lips nervously, his body starting to shake. He was certain he could hear Skrawl calling out to him, but he just could not answer. He could not turn his eyes away. And soon, he started to see shadow..

“Snap! What the hell is wrong with you?!” Skrawl grabbed Snap roughly by his shoulder. He held on so tightly, his claws started to press against his skin. Snap flinched, but did not answer. “Talk to me, you piece of shit! What are you looking at?!”

Snap finally managed to turn his stiffened neck up at Skrawl and he just looked at him. They exchanged glances for several moments. He could see the anger in Skrawl’s eyes, no sense of urgency. Realizing that Skrawl did not detect what he had, Snap simply movtioned his hand in one direction and told him in a quiet, fear-filled voice, “I-It’s them.. They’re coming...”

“What?” Skrawl tilted his head to one side, his eyes narrowing in confusion. “What the heck are you talking about?” He turned his large head over and looked down the hallway. “There is no one...”

Skrawl immediately stopped mid-sentence. He took in a sharp gasp. Snap didn’t need Skrawl to speak for him to know exactly what was going on.

The Beanie Boys had gotten within range.

Skrawl immediately released Snap and started to back away. He shook his head in desperation, his eyes widening in fear. He moved his hand out in front of him, stammering, struggling to shout something at the Beanie Boys. But even when he did manage to say any kind of word, the Beanie Boys just would not listen.

Snap watched in utter horror as the four Beanie Boys began to rapidly close in on them. They were moving at a much faster pace than he had ever seen them go before. He took a few small steps backwards, his wide white eyes unable to leave the sight of the Beanie Boys with their hands outstretched fingers arched eyes narrowed in determination, fully ready to grab onto them and...

Snap and Skrawl stared at each other, their bodies stiffened, filling with raw adrenaline. The two of them knew what they had to do. Looking back at the Beanie Boys, they only took about two steps back before they turned and began to flee as fast as they could down the tunnel.


	34. Ownership

What will you decide when you’re out of time?  
-Russian Roulette, 10 Years

sss

How long has it been since he lost Snap? How long had he been running for? How far had he traveled? Just where was he in relationship to his building?

Skrawl was not really sure. And at the moment, he didn’t care. While he had wanted an alley against Sandra, right now, his mind was too preoccupied with trying to get away from his own Beanie Boys. If he didn’t get away from them soon...

He couldn’t believe that they were refusing to listen to him. He was their boss. They should be paying attention to him. Yet at the same time, he could not really blame them all that much. After all, Sandra had done...something to them to make them more obedient. He wasn’t sure what it was, but he knew that she had screwed with them somehow.

And Sandra was quite the terrifying individual. He could not really blame his Beanie Boys for not listening. They were just too afraid to disobey Sandra. Even if they weren’t under her spell, their fear for their own lives, as well as his own, would prompt them to listen to her. There was just so much that Sandra could do to them quite easily...

Skrawl gritted his teeth at the mere thought of what Sandra had been doing. He wished that he had seen through her lies earlier. Maybe he could have avoided this. He should have just driven a claw through her or something. End her life and then go about his own business. But no he just had to...

He let out a yelp of surprise when one of the Beanie Boys attempted to grab onto him. He managed to dodge, but only just barely. He looked over his shoulder and saw how terrified yet determined the Beanie Boy appeared. Skrawl then pushed himself to move faster.

The other Beanie Boys were getting in closer as well. Skrawl was not sure if he could keep dodging forever. And if they all grabbed onto him, would he be able to fight free of them? Perhaps, but he could not underestimate his own Beanie Boys. They were quite strong. And if they just keep a hold of his limbs or yank on his remaining antennas, they might be able to delay him long enough for Sandra to come in.

At the thought of her, Skrawl gulped. He looked around, trying to see if he could locate her anywhere. He hadn’t seen her among the Beanie Boys and he couldn’t really hear or see her anywhere as he ran. He didn’t doubt that she was close somewhere. The question was just...where was she exactly?

He didn’t have much time to focus on that, however. He had to keep moving. He continued to move as fast as he could down the hallway, trying to gain some distance from his Beanie Boys. He had never moved this fast before, especially when he was in this much pain. But what other choice did he have? It was either this or risk getting caught, and facing Sandra when he was not ready.

And he would rather face her on his own terms. Not an easy thing, but he’d find a way. He’d catch her off guard and...

Skrawl skidded to a halt when he realized he had almost ran into another well. He only stopped for a brief second before he turned to the side and began to head down a new hallway, pounding his feet against the ground as he went. Behind him, he could hear the Beanie Boys letting out shouts of surprise as they hit against the wall. Skrawl smirked. At least this would delay them for a little while.

Skrawl continued to race down the hallway as quickly as possible. He held his mouth open and he panted heavily. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, his mouth becoming dry from his attempts to keep running.

Despite his discomfort, he managed to ignore the pain and discomfort as he kept on running. His mind raced inside of his head, his vision becoming filled only with images of what little he could see, searching for a way that he could get out of here. He kept scanning the area for any sign of an escape route. All the while, he kept his ears open for any detection of the Beanie Boys being closer or Sandra showing up or anything.

So far, he was doing a pretty good job. He was amazed at the pace that he was able to keep. The Beanie Boys hadn’t gotten any closer to him yet. Skrawl couldn’t help but smirk. For once, he was proud that his Beanie Boys weren’t up to the task. They might be able to fly, but unless they had enough stamina, they weren’t going to be able to catch him so easily. Now if he could just keep up this pace he just might stand a chance of escaping.

Then, after what felt like forever, he looked out ahead of him and noticed that there seemed to be some kind of light up ahead. He narrowed his eyes in determination. That had to be a way out of here. Once he was out, he could try to outmanuever his Beanie Boys and hide so that they could not find him. Pumping himself to move faster, he headed directly for that light.

Closer and closer...

Almost there...

He was just about home free...

But before he could even get there, his foot hit against something in the ground. It snagged on...whatever it was, and he found himself falling forward. His face hit against the ground painfully, his teeth clenching tightly. He laid there on the ground, growling softly, as he pushed himself up with one hand. He looked over behind him and found that he had tripped over a small raised part of the ground.

He snorted at this. Figures that it would be something as mundane as that to make him fall. He shook his head and he looked over at his Beanie Boys with wide eyes. He tried to scramble up to his feet quickly, wobbling a little as he tried to move as quickly as possible.

Although he knew it would not work, he held his hand out towards the approaching Beanie Boys and called out to them. “Wait! Stop! I command you!” No response. He managed to get up to his feet and he started to back away. “Stop it, Beanie Boys! Listen to me! You can’t...”

The Beanie Boys, however, refused to listen. They kept getting in closer to him, moving faster as they got closer. Skrawl found himself tripping and landing on his back. He let out a groan before he widened his eyes at them. He kept calling out, his voice getting more and more desperate. He crawled backwards as quickly as he could. But in a matter of moments, they were upon him.

sss

Dr. Crobat felt as though he was on a spinning platter when he initially opened up his eyes. He let out a groan, rubbing his forehead with one of his wings. He blinked a few times as he tried to get a sense of his surroundings. But he couldn’t keep his eyes open for long. It was like some kind of heavy material was being used to keep them closed.

Why was that? Why did he have a difficult time with opening up his eyes? And why did he feel like he was in pain? His head felt as if it had been struck by something hard and heavy. He seethed through his gritted beak as he raised his body up a little. He took in heavy breaths, doing whatever he could to control his pain.

A couple of seconds later, he did take notice that he appeared to be in some kind of large, cool room. Even with his eyes closed, he could tell just how spacious it was in here. And he could feel what felt like a cool breeze moving through, preventing him from feeling too warm.

Just...where was he? He felt like he should know this place. Something about it just seemed so...familiar. Even the dank smell seemed to ring a bell for him somehow. He had to figure out just what this place was. There had to be a way for him to realize his approximate location. But the only thing that he could come up with was that he must be in some kind of large cave somewhere.

A cave... He hadn’t really known a lot of caves. That should narrow it down right? Yeah, he just needed to think about the caves he knew or been to and that should help him. At least a little bit.

After sifting through a list of caves, however, he found that he really wasn’t too much closer to figuring out where he was. The caves that he knew, only about five, were all spaced out, meaning that he could be anywhere in this large radius. And at least two of them he ruled out as they were actually quite hot places. That leaves the last three. And they were the most spaced out of them all.

He was about to continue his thoughts when he thought he heard something vibrate through the ground. He placed his hand against the ground and waited intently, trying to figure out just what this was. The vibrations came in intervals, about evenly spaced out. There was a point where it was the strongest. This was the shortest lived part, while the rest seemed to be more ripples of this one particular point.

Footsteps.

Someone was in here.

Though he could not see, found the feel of it, it would seem that whoever was in here was getting closer. And they sounded quite large...

Feeling his heart race against his chest, Dr. Crobat forced his eyes open. It was painful and he thought he almost tore something. The flash of color and light filled his vision and he had to avert it for a short while before he was able to focus on anything. The vision around him sharpened up and he realized where he was.

But...how did he get here, in the Chalk Mine? This wasn’t where he remembered being. He.... Wait, where was he last? What was the last thing that he truly remembered? He stared at the ground and glared intently as he tried to figure out just what that was.

The last thing that he could remember was being at the hospital. He had finished bandaging himself up and he was.... He couldn’t remember just what he was going to do. He just recalled having to leave to go somewhere. Then he had spoken to Bell and Sarando and...this. Everything else between then and now was a blank.

Did those two have something to do with what happened to him? Or did something else happen that wiped his memory? Still, it was a little too convenient that the very last thing he remembered was following those two into some kind of room...

His thoughts were interrupted when he saw a large shadow start to form on the wall. He tensed himself up, half expecting something else to be in this place. It was a silly thought, but he couldn’t help but feel quite nervous. He still did not really know just how he had gotten here. For all he knew, Biclops had been tied up and some fiend had taken this place over.

To his relief, however, it did turn out to be Biclops after all. The massive giant moved into the room, carrying something in his arms. Dr. Crobat tilted his head to one side, noticing that the giant had what appeared to be edible items. Mostly sandwiches and a few bottles of water.

Biclops made his way over towards him. It was in that moment that Dr. Crobat finally realized that he was in some kind of large cage. He noticed ropes beside him and he realized that he must have been tied up. But...why? Was he really brought here by his captors and tied up and Biclops saved him? But then...why didn’t Biclops let him out? Was he in on this somehow?

Dr. Crobat, unsure of what to think, adopted a defensive stance as the giant came closer. He gritted his beak firmly, his talons pressing into the ground. He didn’t say a word; he just waited and watched as Biclops came ever closer.

“No need to worry. I just brought you something to eat and drink. Figured you might want them.” Biclops said as he got in front of the cage. He stared down at him with those vertically stacked eyes. “Tell me, are you hungry or thirsty?”

Now that Biclops mentioned it, he was feeling a little hungry and a little bit parched. He was about to nod his head when his nervousness got the better of him. He frowned at Biclops before looking away. He still was not entirely sure what to make of his present situation.

“What’s wrong?” Biclops asked. “Why did...Oh.” It would seem that it finall clicked with Biclops. “You are wondering about the cage, aren’t you?”

At this, Dr. Crobat looked over and glared softly at the giant, his expression wearing a strong ‘gee how did you guess’ kind of look. “I wake up caged in this place, ropes next to me...” He motioned a wing over towards the pile of ropes that weren’t far from him. Then he looked back at up Biclops with a small, suspicious frown. “How in the world am I supposed to feel about that? Why did you take off the ropes but keep me in here?”

Biclops sucked on his bottom lip for a moment. He raised up a hand and rubbed the back of his head. “It’s...nothing personal. It’s just...” He paused for a moment, trying to think of just what to say. He then glanced back down at the caged bird. “Dr. Gelcro told me to put you in there.”

Dr. Crobat felt himself tense up at this. Dr. Gelcro...did this? No, that was not possible. He was his best friend. He’d never do something like that to him...right? Biclops must be lying or...or there was something else going on that he was not aware of.

He was knocked out for some time. So much stuff could have happened within that amount of time. Maybe something did happen to Dr. Gelcro to make him go crazy. Maybe he had done something terrible and was holding Biclops for ransom. And then he was going to force the large zoner to..well, he wasn’t entirely sure yet. But some kind of plan had to have been formulated, right?

A part of him didn’t want to believe it. Yet...he just could not forget how he had acted before, when he had been so accusatory towards Snap and his friends. He was so hostile, to the point where he had hardly recognized him as his friend. He could feel his heart twist at the wretched memory. He and Dr. Gelcro try not to talk about it anymore. But he could not fully erase the painful impact that moment still had on him.

Having stalled long enough, he finally offered a response. “Why would my friend have me locked up like this.” He narrowed his eyes. “What things did he do? What has been done to him to make him want to do that?” He leaned his head a little closer to the bars. “And why are you helping him?”

“He and Penny and Mint wanted to make sure that you were safe.”

“Wait, so they are in on this, too? What the...” Dr. Crobat stopped after a few seconds as realization rapidly dawned on his mind. He blinked his eyes slowly, trying to comprehend just what that sentence meant. “They were... But...” He hissed softly as a swirling ray of confusion struck him, intermixing with his other emotions. “What are you talking about?”

Biclops looked down at him sympathetically. “I can see that there is much to discuss.” He lowered himself down to the ground, setting the food and water beside him. He lifted his head up slightly. “Pay attention, there is a lot that you need to know.”

Dr. Crobat wasn’t entirely certain if he should listen. He still didn’t know if Biclops really was an ally or not, in spite of what he had said. Still, he was left in such confusion that...yeah, he really would like to know what was going on around here. And if the giant here was willing to tell him...

He paused for a moment. He had to wonder if information from this giant would be reliable or not. He did claim that he was only looking after him, that two of the creators, along with Dr. Gelcro, only wanted him to be safe. Yet he just...couldn’t understand the cage thing or the ropes. If they wanted him safe, shouldn’t they have just left him here on his own accord? Why not do so much as say goodbye to him?

There really was only one way to find out. Biclops here was willing to explain it. And if he was willing to listen, he just might get an explaination for all of this. That is...provided that Biclops even speaks the truth..

Well, here goes nothing.

“Okay, Biclops. Tell me...” Dr. Crobat began to speak, his eyes narrowing softly. “Just...what is going on around here? Why am I caged? Where did Dr. Gelcro and the humans go to? Why did they want me here? Just...what the heck is happening around here?”

Biclops was silent for a moment. He then gave a soft smile. “I understand your frustrations. It can be irritating being kept out of the loop like this.” He raised his hand up in gesture. “But don’t worry. All will become clear to you. I will tell you what I know and help you understand.”

Dr. Crobat managed some form of a smile. If one could call it that, that is. “Okay then... Talk to me.”

“Okay. Just be quiet and let me tell you the story...” With that, Biclops began to relay the information to the bird-like zoner.

sss

Snap struggled to run as fast as he could. He had no idea how long he had been running like this. But regardless, he just kept it up, trying to move as quickly as he could down the corridor. He couldn’t see where he was going, but at the moment, he just didn’t care. He just wanted to get out of here as quickly as he could.

He didn’t know what had happened to Skrawl. He had lost him a while back. He had thought that Skrawl would have followed him when he turned in here, but apparently not. The jellybean just continued down that same hallway as before, trying to outrun his own Beanie Boys.

Though this did work out for the little blue zoner. The Beanie Boys must not have noticed him heading down here. They were all focused on Skrawl. That was good. That did give him more time to escape. He just had to keep moving as quickly as possible, and he should be able to get out. If he could find the exit to this place, then he was homefree and...

But what of his friends? He wasn’t entirely sure if Sandra had spoken the truth before, about killing Mint and Penny. And he knew that she must have Rudy, considering her obsession of him. He couldn’t just leave his friends behind. He had to help them out.

But the question was...would he be able to get them away from Sandra? Would he be able to get them to safety? And of course, would he even be able to stand up to the insane dragon zoner should the time come that he needed to confront her...?

Snap could feel a cold shiver go through his body. He could feel himself tremble as he struggled to control himself. It was difficult to manage the wash of emotions that moved through him. The chilling, raw terror rose up inside of his chest, twisting his gut, making him want to throw up. And it felt as though there was nothing that he could do to stop it.

What would he do if he did have to face Sandra...? He asked himself this question over and over again. He really didn’t know what he’d do. His mind was drawing a blank.

He wanted to believe that he could fight her. That he could strike her with his fists. He wanted to believe that he had a chance of fighting back. He had so much pent up rage against her just dying to be released... He could just feel corners of his body just wanting to take a shot at her.

But...would he even be able to? Would he be able to fight against the fear and horror that still clung to him tightly? Would he be able to prevent himself from freezing up in terror so that he could fight her? He was honestly not really all that sure. He wanted to believe that he could. But after what she had done to him...

He couldn’t help but wince as his mind flickered through memories of what she did. Image after image, he was forced to relieve it. His eyes widened in shere, utter horror, his mouth opening a little wider as he struggled to breathe. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest, and it wasn’t just from his quickening breath. The emotions were running rampant, and they seemed to drop in temperature whenever he thought about Sandra, and the incident that took place a short time ago.

He could feel his legs start to weaken as the emotions ran rampant through him. Each step seemed to get harder and harder to take. He could feel something heavy being placed upon his shoulders, causing him to slow down. He was growing rapidly unaware of his already dark surroundings, his eyes bulging as thoughts raced through him quickly. He panted heavily as he tried to control himself. But it seemed like nothing he did really worked. All he could do was just....stand there and pant at his point.

He couldn’t face Sandra. Not like this... He was going to need help. If he tried to go up against her now, he would freeze. There was just no doubt about it in her mind. He could just sense it happening. Even just the mere thought of Sandra was enough to make him stiffen and start to shiver.

But...why was he just standing around here for? He was only going to land himself into more trouble. He needed to keep moving if he was going to have any kind of chance of getting away. He couldn’t believe that he had allowed himself to stop. He’d slap himself in the face if he wasn’t in such a hurry right now.

Continuing his run, he continued to make his way down the dark corridor. A part of him wished that he had gotten Skrawl to follow, or that he had followed Skrawl. He hated the jellybean, but at least he wouldn’t be alone, and at least they were on the same page with this. At least, he thought that this was the case. He couldn’t tell if Skrawl was being truthful or not. But then again, what if he was?

He wished that he knew where he was going. It was just so dark in here. He couldn’t tell if he was making any kind of progress or not. For all he knew, he was just heading into oblivion. Well not literally that, but something kind of like that. He was heading deeper and deeper in and he no longer knew for certain if he was in a part of the building anymore. What if he had traveled into an abandoned underground section that had absolutely no way out other than backtracking? And what if he was cornered before he had a chance to get out? These worrying thoughts and more plagued his mind.

Regardless of his fears, however, Snap knew he could not stop running. At least he was getting away from Sandra. And perhaps, once he felt truly safe, he’d be able to find a way to combat Sandra. He could formulate a plan. Maybe he’d be luck and there is another escape route here. He could leave and find allies perhaps, and come in this way. An area that Sandra did not know about. That would give them the advantage. Snap looked forward to taking Sandra by surprise.

He began to wonder just how far this place went. How far did this tunnel travel? And was it ever going to turn? Was there another path that he could take? It’d be a tad easier to hide if there was even just one more path that could be taken. But so far there appeared to be nothing. This caused Snap to frown with concern. If he couldn’t find another path, he...

That soon became the least of his problems.

Snap’s heart almost immediately stopped beating, making running quite difficult, when he heard a scraping sound. He ended up nearly tripping over the ground and pulled himself to a complete stop. He turned his head slowly from left to right as he listened for the sound. It didn’t take long for him to hear it again, this time, sounding much closer.

Snap felt a shiver start to move through his body. He could feel his heart pounding, wanting to keep moving. Yet the ice that developed in his heart had spread through his veins and muscles. Any movement that he attempted to make was just...stiff and painful. Almost like someone had frozen him with real ice and then was trying to force his hardened limbs to bend when that was no longer possible.

Though he could hear no voice calling out to him, identifying this individual’s name, he could hear a low hissing sound. A soft growl that might as well be echoing in the air. He couldn’t exactly recognize the growling at this point, but something about it did seem familiar...

And that caused him to stiffen up more. He turned himself around and looked around, trying to find where the newcomer was. The scraping sound was pretty close at this point. They should be here somewhere. But just...where? He couldn’t see anything yet. But it was quite dark in here. It might take a while before he’d be able to figure out where...

Suddenly he found himself being pushed forward. Before he knew it, he was crashing into the ground, his face smooshing up against it. He let out a yelp of pain as his facial skin scraped against the ground. He rolled around, somersaulting for a second before he finally landed in the ground. He didn’t have much time to recover before he felt hands gripping him and pinning him into the hard surface.

His heart pounding, Snap immediately began to struggle. He could feel his mind racing more quickly than before, his eyes going wide like saucers. He kicked his legs out in desperation, trying to strike whoever was there. But was on his stomach; nothing he did would even hit a mark. He let out a series of loud, panicked cries, unable to form any sort of coherent words. He wriggled and twisted himself from side to side as hard as he could. But no matter how hard he tried, he just could not get himself free.

Then he felt a sharp pain in his left side. He froze for a moment, and then as the pain increased, he let out out a few loud yelps. He felt something pushing into his skin, and he could feel blood starting to drip down. The warm crimson fluid began to stain the ground beside him.

“Where do you think you are going...?”

Snap took in a sharp intake of breath. No...it couldn’t be... How could she have found him here? It was impossible... There was no way that she...

Slowly, the blue and white zoner tilted his head to one side and looked upwards towards his attacker. And when he saw that wretched triangular mark, the hideous red eyes to go along with it, staring down at him, he nearly all but passed out from the shere terror.

Sandra stared down at him, her eyes narrowing into slits. She pulled her lips up into a snarl, wearing an expression that was somewhere between rage and amusement. She didn’t look like she was about to attack, but knowing how unpredictable she could be, Snap just could not feel comfortable with guessing whether or not she was going to attack.

Sandra stared at him with that same half amused expression. Her eyes did not hide from him any coldness that raged on inside. It felt like she was pointing an ice ray at him. He could feel his body temperature lowering just from that alone. Snap couldn’t help but curl in upon himself, rubbing his arms desperately in an attempt to get warm. His efforts seemed fruitless, and his body only seemed to shake harder.

“I’d like to ask you one simple question, my dear...” Sandra began, her voice gaining a chilling temperature to it. She tilted her head to one side. “Just...what did you think you were doing...? Did you think that you were going to get away so easily? Did you not stop to think that you might be...worsening your present condition...?”

Snap licked his lips nervously, swallowing hard. He couldn’t think of anything to say to her. The only thing that he could do was just continue to mumble, slurring his words, breathing in and out at a quickened rate. Unable to think of anything, he just looked away, shutting his eyes and waiting for something to happen.

Sandra let out a growl at this. “Look at me when I talk to you, piece of shit!” She struck out at Snap, slapping him across the top of his head. Snap released a yelp at this. “Look at me now!”

Shivering, Snap forced himself to look up at Sandra. He nearly wet himself at the sight of her burning red eyes staring at him.

Sandra gave a sickeningly sweet smile at this. “There...isn’t that better now?” Snap did not answer. Though Sandra did not seem to mind too much. “Now... Let us get down to business...” She turned her head to the side, staring off into nothingness. “I am rather furious with you right now, Snap. And in fact, I am also heartbroken.” She sighed as she shut her eyes. “I had been so sparing of you. I had cut you a better deal than what I had planned. At least this new one gave you some pleasure, right?”

Snap struggled not to laugh bitterly at that. Pleasure...? Oh sure, if one could even call it that. He wouldn’t call...that...pleasure, especially since it was forced upon him. There was just...nothing about that he could possibly enjoy.

But of course Sandra would see it as pleasure. She would see it as her doing him a favor. He wouldn’t be surprised if that is what she tries to say. That she had given him a happy experience when in reality, all she did was emotionally scar and torment him. This was not a better deal, no matter what she says. It was only marginally better than being eaten alive all the time, but even that he was starting to question on some levels.

But he dare not speak any of this against Sandra. He did not want to give her any more ideas on what she could do with him. He would much rather just keep quiet and not do anything to provoke her further. He did not want to think of what worse she could do with him. The less he knew, the better.

“Oh I wish there was someway that I could...persuade you. I really wouldn’t want to have to hurt you too much if I don’t have to, my sweet.” Sandra lowered her head down and she pressed the side of it against the back of Snap’s head. This caused Snap to have a brief panic attack as he realized just how close her teeth were to the back of his neck. “Is there nothing I can do to help you stay with me?”

Snap knew that she was not being all that serious. There was no way that she would even think that he’d ever consider staying with her if he could help it. She was just trying to mess with him. Get inside his mind a little. Screw around with him.

And it appeared to be working, though probably not in the way that Sandra had intended. It was not so much the question alone but rather the implications of it. Being together forever with this monster....with what she did and what she would continue to do... That was probably the worst thing he could ever imagine happening to himself.

No...he didn’t want that. No... He could feel tears begin to form in his eyes as the raw horror of what might lay before him in the future began to crush him underneath its weight. He couldn’t help but shiver in terror, his lower lip quivering. He could feel his chest crash up against the ground with each rapid breath that she took, and it felt as if it had been lit on fire.

Sandra gave a small chuckle at this. “Oh do not worry, Snap. Everything will work out.” She nuzzled him against the side of his face. Snap could just barely see her red eyes looking at him. “You will see.. I can forget about this whole nasty business, and I could just...help you relax a little. So..come on... Do you want to have a little bit of...enjoyment...?”

Snap could feel his blood freezing at this. He had trouble breathing feeling as though his lungs could not take in anything more. He struggled to stare up at Sandra in fear, craning his neck so that he could see what she was doing. His racing mind did not need to hear anything else from the blue dragon to know exactly what she meant.

Sandra smirked at his expression, as if it was the most amusing thing ever, and she pulled her head away. Snap felt himself start to panic a little when she was no longer within his sights. He felt so...exposed and vulnerable like this. And then a second later, he could feel her teeth pressing up against the back of his head. He let out a loud yelp of surprise, gripping the ground tightly. He held still as he felt Sandra give him a bit of a groom.

“You still taste so nice....” Sandra cooed softly as she gently nibbled on the back of his head. She gave him a few slow, deliberate licks. “Hmm yes.. Still pretty tasty...”

Snap couldn’t take it anymore. Though he had tried to stay quiet before, he just...couldn’t do it more much longer. Giving her the most pitiful look that he could muster, not caring about his own dignity, he whimpered, “P-Please...don’t hurt me...”

“Oh? You don’t like the pain, do you?” Sandra tilted her head to one side, her ears dropping downwards. “Well you could have fooled me. I thought that, by trying to escape, you wanted to get hurt...”

“N-No... I don’t...” Snap managed to shake his head a few times. “I-I...I really don’t. I’m sorry I tried to escape...Please don’t...”

“This is so cute...” Sandra cut him off. She had quickly grabbed onto his chin, forcing his head upwards in a rather uncomfortable way. He could feel the dull pain in his neck as she applied pressure here. “Trying to escape with some lying. Oh don’t worry, I know you like it rough...”

Snap let out a small cry at this. No, he was not going to allow that to happen again. No way in hell was he going to permit Sandra to once again do something like that to him. He struggled harder against her grasp, struggling to free an arm. Anything to get away from her.

Then suddenly, just as he was about to get a chance to strike at her, a sudden shockwave of pain struck in his spine. He widened his eyes and gave a sharp seething breath, his whole body stiffening. He was frozen in place, feeling as though someone had just taken some kind of drill and pushed it into the middle of his back. The pain was so intense that...he couldn’t even speak a word.

He could hear Sandra’s growly voice say, “Not so fast, my little flower... You are in no condition to be...going anywhere...”

Snap tried to speak, but all he could do was let out a gasp and stiffen up more as Sandra did....something to his back. He couldn’t tell what it was. He couldn’t even turn his head over to see it. All of the muscles in his body just seemed to...become rock solid. There was no way that he could move any of them without fearing that he would break something.

He then thought that he could feel something small and solid inside of his back. It was quite faint and he might have just been feeling things. But...what if he wasn’t? Did...Did Sandra put something inside of him? Like...like a tumor...?

The thought of that caused his already hardened muscles to stiffen up more, something that he didn’t think was possible at this point. He was certain that his muscles were going to break off at this point. But also plaguing him were thoughts about the tumor. He could never forget how Sandra had inserted a tumor in him before, which led to the most horrible time of his life and...

Snap increased his struggling. Even in spite of his pain, he still continued to fight against Sandra. He could feel her grip on him loosening for a moment; perhaps she had thought that he’d go down easily and was taken aback by the fact that he was fighting back. He used this to his advantage and, slowly, he was eventually able to worm his way out of her grasp. He then turned and he attempted to run away...

...only to fall into the ground when his legs suddenly gave out. He let out a shout of surprise as he found himself hitting against the ground hard. He coughed and he spluttered, a few waves of pain moving through him in a rapid fashion. He groaned as he lifted up a hand and started to rub his face. He was about to try getting up when he realized something quite horrific.

His legs weren’t working...

Snap felt his eyes bulge open at this realization. He soon realized that it was worse than that. It was not a case of his legs just being numb from sitting on them wrong or something. He could not move them, nor could he feel them. It was like they weren’t even a part of his body anymore.

Snap froze at this. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He couldn’t even begin to fathom any kind of reaction to this. The emotion wave that struck was just too intense for him. He could only lay there, staring off into nothingness, feeling some kind of weight pushing down against him. He could hear Sandra’s chuckling, but even that did not make him look over behind him. He just...could not bring himself to look.

“How naughty... Trying to flee from me like that..” Sandra hissed softly. She gave another small chuckle, this one a bit more bitter than the last one. “Such a feisty little boy you are...” Sandra had reached him quickly and before he knew it, her hands gripped onto his shoulders. “I think you might need a little ‘reward’, don’t you think...?”

Snap shook his head rapidly, staring up at her with wide, tear-dripping eyes. “No..please don’t...I..” But nothing he said or did would convince Sandra not to do anything. In the end, he was just as helpless as Rudy was. Without his legs...

Sandra suddenly gripped his throat tightly. He let out a gag as she forced him upwards, assuming a strange, seated-like position. He found his face close to hers, and he couldn’t help but flince as her red eyes were upon him, practically bathing him in a red glow.

“Of course, I don’t have to do any of that...”

Though relieved, Snap couldn’t help but tilt his head in confusion. “Y-You don’t...? Why not...?”

Sandra spread a dark smile across her face. A vicious grin started to form. “If you tell me where Skrawl is, then I will think of...delaying your punishment for a little while longer...” Snap stared at her, doing nothing to respond. Sandra flattened her ears and growled. She hoisted him up and pressed him against a nearby wall. “But if you test me, I will make sure that you will have the most unpleasant experience of your life. Do you understand me?”

Snap could only stare at her in horror.

“And do be a dear and speak to me the truth.” Sandra began to wrap her tail slowly around Snap. “After all, you do belong to me now. I hate to think what would happen if you tried to lie to your...master.”

“I-I...” Snap could not think of what to say to that.

Sandra just chuckled at this before narrowing her eyes into slits. She pressed the sharp tips of her spikes against him, making Snap cry out. “Now, my little sugarplum... You have one minute to decide...” She put her face close to his. “So choose wisely...”

sss

The teenager leaned himself against the bars of his prison. He could still feel the radiating discomfort from his neck. He reached up and rubbed it carefully, his hand moving back and forth. He sucked in a sharp breath, gritting his teeth tightly. He turned his head towards the ground as he struggled to comprehend what was going on.

He had never expected himself to be so happy to see a Beanie Boy before. Normally, they spelled bad news. But this time, his appearance was able to buy a little time for him. He was away from Sandra. He was alone. He could try to think of an escape plan and...

But would it even work? He was completely alone in here. There wasn’t really much that he could do. He could try...but what was the point? His legs were useless right now. There was no way that he could escape so easily. He could have just asked Jyker for help. He could have carried him like he did before...

...if he weren’t dead that is. He looked over at the corpse that had once been Jyker. He couldn’t help but grimace at just how terrible he looked. He had been fully ripped apart. His limbs on the ground, his jaw ripped off, organs torn out.... It was almost impossible to tell who that had been. If he hadn’t seen him before Sandra ripped into him, he might not have been able to tell that it was him at all.

Rudy didn’t know him that well. He had never taken the time to get to know Jyker. A part of him wished he had. Especially now, more than ever. Jyker had helped stop Sandra before. He should have taken the time to introduce himself better. He should have done...something to show just how thankful he was for his help from before.

But now it was too late for all of that. Now Jyker laid dead on the ground. A victim torn apart when he did not deserve it. All because of Sandra holding a grudge. All because of Sandra wanting to punish him. That...that monster...

But as awful as he felt for Jyker, he could not deny the fact that he had his own issues with Sandra at the moment. In a way, Jyker had been lucky. Not in the method of his death. That had just been cruel. But at least he was dead and could not suffer anymore. Sandra could not raise the dead.

Yet she could still torment him... It didn’t seem like Sandra intended to kill him anymore. In a way, this was both a relief and a curse. Rudy was not interested in dying, but he would prefer that fate over being enslaved to Sandra. He did not want to be her puppet, her little plaything. He did not want to surrender to her, or give her whatever she wanted.

Sandra intended on using him for protection. She wanted to hide behind his image and his chalk so that no one would try to defy her. She believed that if she controlled him, she’d control ChalkZone. After all, not many would dare go up against the Great Creator.

The very thought boiled his blood. He couldn’t believe that Sandra was going to try to use him like that... He couldn’t believe the lengths that she was willing to go in order to get what she wanted. There was no way that he’d ever willingly work for her, but he knew that she’d find some kind of way. She would not stop until she had what she wanted. And once she did...

He wondered if that is the case with Snap as well. Had she kept him alive to be used in this twisted manner? Rudy was the most recognizable human in ChalkZone. And by extension, that made Snap also quite recognizable as well. They were both the largest faces in ChalkZone. If Sandra controlled them both, she’d be able to make the zoners surrender to her. Or perhaps she could make them stop the zoners make them bow down before that dark and twisted fiend...

And Penny and Mint.... What had happened to them...? Rudy had been informed that they were dead. Sandra told him that she had the Beanie Boys drown them in quicksand. She had sounded absolutely serious when she said it...

But Rudy found it difficult to believe that. His friends wouldn’t go down that easily. They would have found a way out, right? They would have escaped and try to find a way to rescue him. Yeah, that’s what was going on. That had to be what was going on. There was just no way that...

...but what if she was telling the truth? What if Mint and Penny were..dead..?

Rudy grabbed onto his numb legs and pulled them against himself. He rested his chin upon his knees and stared out into nothingness. His eyes stared out, a few tears starting to form. Even if they were alive, just...the very idea of them being dead... He wasn’t able to stop the tears from flowing down his face. It wasn’t fair... They didn’t deserve such a fate. They didn’t deserve to die...

No, they weren’t dead. They couldn’t be dead. Penny and Mint were smarter than that. They wouldn’t let themselves be killed. Sandra would see. They would come back and they would confront her and she would be left speechless. And all he’d be able to do was laugh at just how much she had underestimated his friends.

Then they would be able to pay her back for all that she had done and...

But he knew that there was still the chance that they won’t be able to get out of this. Even if they were alive, they needed some way to outsmart Sandra. To beat her at her own game... He thought he figured something out, but at the moment, his mind was just a blank, too filled with thoughts of what happened to be able to think more clearly about a potential plan.

What happened to Jyker... Not knowing what was going on with Snap... The possibility that Mint and Penny were dead...

...the way that Sandra had toyed with him before...

Rudy sucked in a sharp breath as he thought about what Sandra did to him before. The way that she had given him back his legs, only for it to be ripped away from him again. The worst part wasn’t the feeling in his neck, but in his mind. He had been granted a normal life again...only to have it cruelly ripped away from him.

And the fact that he was trying to ‘re-educate him’... He couldn’t help but feel sick about the whole thing. He wanted to tell Sandra to shove it up her...but he couldn’t bring himself to do that out of fear that she’d do something worse to him. After all, if she wanted to, she could easily.... He didn’t want to think about it.

Rudy didn’t know just how long he would last like this. He didn’t know how much he could resist Sandra’s ‘teachings’. He knew that she would just keep torturing him like this, keep bombarding the information into his head until he ultimately surrendered. She would find a way to get under his skin and force him to believe what she did. And there wasn’t much that he could do about it.

She was going to keep trying to make him hers. No, she probably was already at that stage. Sandra must think that he did belong to her. That she owned him. And in a sense, she was...almost right. She did control him for the time being. His very ability to survive rested in her hands. And if she played her cards right, she might...

He didn’t want to give up just yet, though. He had a feeling that if he just kept thinking hard, he might be able to figure a way out of this. There had to be a way out... A way to just...trick Sandra or something...

But at the moment, he felt too weighed down by all of this. The very idea of him being forced to believe in her way... That was horrifying enough. He was being robbed of who he is, his ideals, just so Sandra could be satisfied. She was attempting to brainwash him. He would keep fighting against it. He would try to resist as much as he could. He was not going to give up himself so easily.

...but was that going to be good enough? He knew full well that Sandra might be able to win. Psychology was....quite something. If Sandra employed the right method, she could very well get exactly what she wants.

And if she did...

...then what?

sss

Sarando couldn’t believe it. He kept staring at what was going on, trying to think of just...what to make out of this situation. This...this wasn’t how things were supposed to go down. This wasn’t what he and Bell had planned. And yet the situation just got...so much worse...

What was he going to tell Bell? How was Bell going to react to this? He knew that he was not going to be happy about it. For all he knew, Bell just might tear him apart for this. Maybe find some way to blame him for it. Yes, he wanted his friend to stop, but....he would never do something like this. He wouldn’t try to...

But he knew that he could not hide from him either. That would only make the situation worse. If he did that, then Bell would most certainly see him as a threat. He would try to hunt him down and rip him apart. That bull was so obsessed with this that he’d do anything it took to get this plan in full motion. He regarded anyone who did not agree as a potential threat, and if they got in his way, he’d take care of them.

And he was no exception.

The only thing that he could do was just..go to him and tell him what happened. Then figure things out from there. Maybe he could lesson the blow somehow. Or maybe he could offer to help salvage the plan or something.

But deep down, he had a feeling there was just...nothing that he could do. He could try, but that did not mean that he had much of a chance at success. He may just awaken the demon inside of Bell and suffer the consequences for something that was not his fault. How in the world was he to know this would have happened? How could he have known that things would have gone down this route?

How was he to know that Dr. Crobat would have escaped them?

It had been a foolproof plan. Or so they had thought. Both of them believed that they could keep Dr. Crobat in their grasp and then see how well he performed with the others. They had even set up a set of hidden passageways in the hideout building that Dr. Crobat could have used to traverse through without being detected so easily. It had been well organized, he thought. And none of them had believed that anything could go wrong.

Well they were indeed incorrect on that. The plan had rapidly alternated. All because neither of them had expected Dr. Crobat to have been defeated so easily. Or the fact that Dr. Gelcro would have escaped. This all threw a wrench in their plans, and now Dr. Crobat was locked up away.

And within the confines of the Chalk Mine, too. This meant that there was a high probability that he would no longer be under the Signal’s control. He was back to his old self again. This all meant that they could no longer test on him. Bell either had to find someone else, give up, or just continue with the data that he had already gathered.

Sarando knew his friend well. He knew that he would choose to just move forward. He had made it clear that he did not want to try to find a replacement. So there was a high probability that, upon hearing the news, regardless if he did anything to him or not, the bull would still move forward with his plan. He had gathered quite a bit of data from Dr. Crobat after all.

Sarando still did not like this plan. He wished that Bell would just forget about the whole thing and move on. He did not see any benefit from this. He wished that he would open his eyes and see what he was doing. How could Bell not see that he was turning into a monster? That brainwashing everyone in ChalkZone City in order to welcome their new ‘leader’ was not the best idea? Bell might claim to have the best interests of everyone, but this was just...crazy.

But there wasn’t much that he could do about this, right? He could try. Maybe attempt to reason with him or whatever. But he did not really put much faith in it. No matter how he looked at it, things were just messed up. The thought made him grit his beak in worry. And here he was, caught in between all of this....

It was so confusing for him. On the one hand, he did not want his friend to go through with this. He did not view that...that abomination as a true potential leader. He would not trust that thing to run this city, let alone this world. But on the other hand, he could not just sit around and allow Bell get into trouble. He felt...obligated to help him.

He had never felt this torn before. He could feel his mind threatening to stretch and break in half as he tried to figure out just what the heck he was going to do. Was he going to try to stop his friend? Or was he going to just let him go through with this? Was he going to try to save the world from a potentially horrible future, or would he stick by his friend and help him achieve his vision?

Sarando had no idea where he truly stood in all of this. And he could feel himself being torn up on the inside. He could feel his body shaking, the tips of his toes tingling.

Just...what was he going to do...?

Well there wasn’t much he could do just standing around here. Trying to remain hidden in these two tight rock spaces was giving him cramps anyway. And Bell expected him back at any moment. It was time for him to leave.

After pushing himself out, he took a moment to look around and see if anyone was around. Then, turning his head towards where he knew where the exit was, he spread his wings and he began to fly.

He would figure out something to do with Bell later. Somehow... He could only hope that, in the end, he made the right choice. He wanted to make the decision that would truly be the most beneficial. But he had a feeling that, regardless of what he chose, he would feel doubts about it in some shape or form.

He was already feeling regret.


	35. Retreat And Failure

It beings with a choir of failure...  
-Choir Of Failure, Fades Away

sss

Well, it had taken them longer than they had hoped. They hadn’t realized that it would take them this long to get here. They couldn’t believe just how long it had taken just to get back here, even with this new mode of transportation. Then again, perhaps they should have went for a transportation that didn’t end up being so unstable, requiring so much energy.

At least they were here, though. They couldn’t complain about that. Even if it took longer than they had hoped, at least they had made it here at all. And now that they were there, they could begin to try to save their friends from Sandra’s clutches.

If they could, anyway. Mint was not going to get his hopes up too much. There was still much that they had to consider. And there was still a strong possibility that they weren’t even going to succeed. Not something he wanted to think about much. But he had to at least consider the possibility of failure. Sandra had outsmarted them before and it was very possible that she’d do that again.

But the fact that they were here at all, and without Sandra seemingly to notice, was definitely a plus. This gave them a chance to try to make their way through the building with as little detection as possible. Not that he felt they would remain undetected for long. But they could at least make some good level of progress before Sandra could get to them. Perhaps they could even find a way to combat her before she could make a move against them.

He and the others weren’t making any more progress right now, however. They had stopped, and everyone in the group was looking up at the tall cactus that housed the hideout that Sandra had been using. It was amazing, and intimidating, just how high up it truly was. This thing must be several miles high at the very least. The very sight of it was enough to make Mint feel all wobbly and unsteady on his feet. Was this how far they had climbed before? No wonder his legs felt like they were going to break off.

And now they had to find another way up again. Mint could feel himself almost collapse into the ground. He recalled how difficult it had been before. Did they really have to go through all that trouble again?

For their friends....yes.

“Don’t tell me we will have to climb up that.” Dr. Gelcro winced as he looked at the gigantic cactus that stretched upwards, looking as though it was going to scrape across the sky. “It would take forever to...”

“We did it before. And we can do it again.” Penny cut him off. She gave a soft glare at the cactus. “We might be able to figure out a faster way. But we’ll have to...”

“Why can’t we just fly up there? Can’t you two draw something with wings?” Dr. Gelcro raised his arms up into the air, motioning towards the cactus above them. He stared down at Mint and Penny with a wide-eyed confused expression. “Biclops gave you plenty of chalk. You should be able to...”

Mint interrupted him before he could continue too far. “We would attract Sandra’s attention that way.” Dr. Gelcro paused and stared at him. Mint looked towards the ground, his eyes narrowed softly. “If we go up into the sky, she may end up spotting us. It is safer going in from below, like we had before.”

“...are you sure that would work a second time?”

Mint exchanged glances with Penny. Neither of them, at first, could understand why the dog-like zoner was asking that. If it worked the first time, it would work a second time, right? It didn’t seem too likely that they’d fail again. They...

Suddenly, they both realized just what he was talking about. They had thought about this before, but they had been so caught up in finally receiving magic chalk again, they had utterly forgotten about this particular point.

Sandra had known they came from below. She had toyed with them earlier, making them think that she didn’t know. But she was fully aware of this. Because of that fact, it was quite likely that she put in more security there. Maybe the four Beanie Boys were patrolling that spot more often. For all they knew, she booby trapped the entire place.

Mint frowned at this. Well if that were the case, then they might need to figure something else out. They need to figure out some way that they could get up without getting spotted. But if they weren’t going to fly and they weren’t going in from underground...just how were they going to get up there?

A part of him wished that he had brought along Ripclaw. His massive dinosaur creation would have been able to scale up this place easily, especially with those wings that Rudy had drawn on her several years ago. She would have been a valuable assett in all of this. But he had decided that he didn’t want to risk her getting hurt, and he had her stay behind, commanded her to return home. He wanted her to remain safe.

There was a very specific reason he left her behind and not one he had brought up with Penny. He had his suspicions that Sandra was the one who had killed and eaten Courtney. She was the only zoner out here that he knew of who would do something like that. He did not want Ripclaw suffering the same fate. Not if he could help it.

He returned his focus on the task at hand. He looked up at the cactus, scratching his chin thoughtfully. What other way could they use to get up there? The only way seemed to be from the same way they did before...or by flying. Was there not a third option that they could take?

Penny let out a soft ‘hmm’ as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. She began to pace back and forth in front of the cactus. She seemed to be trying to think of something herself. And judging from her expression, it didn’t seem like she was having an easy time figure out just what they could do. It would seem like they all had reached an impasse of sorts.

Then something seemed to click in her eyes, both of them lighting up at the exact same time. Something was clearly on her mind. Mint and Dr. Gelcro watched her intently, wondering what idea she was going to propose. She looked over at them, and they remained silent, giving her all the time that she needed to speak.

“I think I have an idea.” Penny stated. Her voice was soft and firm. “But..we are going to have to be careful. I mean, really careful. One screw up is all that it’s going to take to mess this up and get us caught...or even killed.” She narrowed her eyes softly. “I take it the two of you understand that, right?”

“Of course.” Dr. Gelcro stated as he nodded his head. Mint joined in, remaining silent but nodding his head in agreement to the dog zoner’s statement.

Penny gave a small smile at this before she turned her attention to the giant cactus before them. She remained quiet for several moments before she said, “How good are you two at scaling up at a diagonal angle?”

“Huh?” Mint and Dr. Gelcro exchanged glances. Just what was Penny talking about?

Penny appeared to notice their confusion as she spoke up again almost right away. “I mean with ropes.” Penny formed a grip with her hands, as though pretending to grab onto something. “My idea was using some kind of grappling hook and shoot it up there, and then we climb up.”

Mint widened his eyes at this. He felt a little silly for not realizing this before. How could he have...

But wait, didn’t this idea run into the same problems as before? They had wanted to go up this place without any sort of detection. Penny’s idea sounded good in theory. But it still left them fully expose. They would be out in the open, where everyone would see them. Well anyone in the area, that is. What was going to stop Sandra or the Beanie Boys from spotting them climbing up?

And it would take quite a while, too, wouldn’t it? They would need to take their time getting up there. Slow and steady... and that would only increase their chances of getting caught. How could Penny think that this was a good idea? Had she gone off the deep end or something? There had to be something more to this plan than that. There just had to be...

And thankfully, there was.

“I didn’t mean climb all the way up there by our hands.” Penny waved her hand dismissively as she spoke. “I do apologize if I made it seem like that.” She held her hand up in gesture. “I just meant that we could draw something to attack to the rope and zip our way up quickly.”

“I see. That does...sound a lot better than I had imagined.” Mint admitted. But there was still an issue. “We would have to move quickly enough to avoid detection. And wouldn’t we need protection for that?”

Penny nodded her head. “Yes, we would. We could injure ourselves quite easily if we aren’t prepared.” She furrowed her eyes for a moment at this, grimacing as though thinking of all the ways that they could get hurt. Then she quickly forced a smile upon her face. “But don’t worry. I know exactly what we can do.”

Dr. Gelcro and Mint moved in closer to Penny as she began to explain the plan. The more that she spoke, the more likely it seemed that this could work. But there was still a chance that they could fail and they still had to be careful. One false move and...

But they had to try. It was the fastest way to get up there, and they all knew they had very little time to save their friends. The faster they got up there, the better. If they didn’t get to their friends quickly enough before Sandra... None of them wanted to think about the possibilities.

sss

Moving down the hallway like this was quite difficult. Each step felt like it took forever, and walking so close to each other was...rather painful. They all wished that they could try to move apart, but they knew that this wouldn’t be such a good idea. It was best if they stuck together, even if it meant having to walk like...this.

Penny forgot the name of the movie where she got this idea from. So far, it was doing relatively well. She had more or less created a moving ‘fortress’ of sorts. Okay, fortress was not the best word to use to describe it. Shield? Yes, shield described it a whole lot better.

This shield was doing a good job in protecting them. It offered up a one way layer that made it difficult for anyone to see what was on the inside. If anything, they would only see their own reflection first. And most likely only that. To anyone walking by, there was just nothing of interest. Just some kind of strange mirror.

Though they still had to be careful when they moved. If they walked while Sandra or one of the Beanie Boys was looking, they were in trouble. They would be captured so fast, it was going to make their heads spin.

But despite their fears and despite their difficulty, they were making relatively good progress. They kept on moving down the hallway slowly, taking their time. They’d love to move faster, but they all agreed that moving at this pace was best. It would draw the least amount of attention. So far, they hadn’t run into any problems and they hadn’t even spotted a Beanie Boy yet. Regardless, they kept themselves hidden, not wanting to risk any chance of a Beanie Boy being able to see them.

But though they were doing relatively good with progress, that didn’t mean that it was easy. They had their fair share of trouble as they moved along here. Penny had thought that climbing up here was the hardest part. Oh how wrong she was...

“Hey! Stop stepping on my foot!”

“Oh yeah? You stop hitting my tail!”

“I wouldn’t hit your tail if you didn’t swing it in my face!”

“You’re the one who...”

Penny gritted her teeth, narrowing her eyes into slits. “Will you two knock it off?!” She hissed at them. The two immediately froze at this and turned to face her. Penny glared at them both in the eyes, taking in a slow, deep breath to try to keep herself calm. “You two have been at each other’s throat almost the entire way. If you two don’t knock it off, you will draw Sandra or the Beanie Boys to us! Is that what you want?”

Penny didn’t mean to sound so angry. She did feel a tad guilty when Mint and Dr. Gelcro winced and lowered their heads at her comment. But she did not really regret what she said. They needed to quit their bickering if they were going to get through here.

She couldn’t even fathom why they were fighting at all. Shouldn’t they be more or less on the same page? She understood if this tediousness was making them more irritable. But come on. This was ridiculous. Now was not the time for them to be fighting so much. If they couldn’t just cool it and stifle themselves, then they were all going to land in hot water.

And that was not something that they could afford right now.

At least her scolding had stopped them. The two had fallen utterly silent and they had resumed walking along the hallway. She had no idea just how long this was going to work or not. But hey, at least it was something. So long as they had stealth on their side, they stood a chance at finding their friends before Sandra decided to take care of them.

Of course, the question was...just where would they find their friends..? Penny realized, and she was certain that Dr. Gelcro and Mint had thought of this as well, they had no idea where their friends were being held. Just where should they go? How far down this hallway were they or were they down another? Just...how were they going to find them?

She narrowed her eyes as they continued walking down the hallway. Even in spite of being lost in her thoughts, she was able to keep at just the right pace to avoid tripping over everyone. And she used this time to try to figure out just what they were going to do, and how they were going to find their friends.

They could be down any one of these corridors. It was too risky going down all of them. They needed a way to narrow them down or find out where everything is or....whatever else helped really. But...how were they going to find their friends if they didn’t even have a map of the place anymore? Oh, if only they had brought Riplaw. She could have tracked them down easily.

Penny’s eye twinkled. What if she were to.... She immediately froze at the mere thought of it. She could feel her heart twisting in a knot, a pang in her stomach that made her feel quite sick. She placed a hand over her chest, breathing in slowly to try to keep herself from hyperventilating, not wanting to worry Dr. Gelcro or Mint.

The idea of creating another living thing... Even if it was for a good cause, it still filled her with fear. It wasn’t because of anything in particular that happened years ago or anything. Rather, it was because of the incident recently, with the loss of Courtney.

The very thought of that large bird filled her with sorrow. She could feel herself rapidly growing nauseous and she couldn’t help but rub her forehead as shet ried to cope with the sensation. She kept asking herself the same question over and over again.

Would she be able to handle another instance of losing a creation? Even if she did not get an emotional connection with her new creation, that still didn’t really mean much; she could still be torn apart mentally if she saw them being torn apart by....whoever had eaten Courtney from before. Penny struggled to hide her tears, feeling a few of them escape anyway. She did not want to put another creation of hers through that again. No, she was not going to relive that horrific experience. She’d think of something else that could be done.

But...what would that be...?

Just then, she and the others stopped when they saw something moving down the hallway. It didn’t take them long before they releazed what it was.

“A Beanie Boy...” Penny hissed under her breath. Turning her attention to Mint and Dr. Gelcro, she said, “Do you think he might have some good information?”

Mint nodded his head once, firmly and stiffly. “I have absolutley no doubt in my mind about that. I’m sure Sandra keeps the Beanie Boys in the loop to a certain extent. If we catch this guy, he might be able to tell us what is happening with our friends and maybe even tell us how to back pedal their little plans by telling us how to free our friends.”

“Do you think he’ll listen?” Penny asked.

Mint shrugged. “Worth a try, at least...”

Dr. Gelcro gave a soft sigh at this. He lowered his ears slightly, his eyes frowned softly. “I’m not sure if I like this...but...” He closed his eyes as thoughts seemed to shift through them. He then looked over at Penny and Mint. “I do have to agree that this might be our only chance.” He paused for a moment, and then pressed a finger against his chin. “But how do we get him to talk...? I wonder...”

“Oh don’t worry.” Penny raised her hand up. She narrowed her eyes in determination. “I know exactly how we can get that Beanie Boy to talk...”

Dr. Gelcro looked perplexed by this. But it was clear that Mint knew exactly what she was talking about. The boy stared at Penny in disbelief, blinking his eyes slowly. “Penny..” He whispered. “Y-You’re not thinking about...”

“What? Thinking about what?” Dr. Gelcro asked, his face painted with confusion.

“Oh yes I am.” Penny nodded her head once.

Dr. Gelcro raised up his hands. “What’s going on here?” But just like before, he was ignored.

Mint kept his attention focused on Penny. He stared to look a little desperate, as though wanting to say..something but unable to think of anything. It took him a few moments of stammering and stuttering before he could finally say something. “B-But Penny... th-that’s...”

“I know it’s harsh and I did not really enjoy it much myself before.” Penny let out a small sigh as she recalled what she did with one of the Beanie Boys before. She still could not believe that she had said those things. But desperate times call for desperate measures. And if she could get the Beanie Boy to chat... “We need the information. That’s first and foremost. The method that we get it...is secondary.”

“But...” Mint reached his hand out towards Penny. After a few seconds, he finally exhaled deeply, his hand dropping at his side. He looked towards the ground, his eyes closing somewhat tightly. He shook his head from side to side before looking back at Penny. He remained silent for a few seconds before he finally spoke, “...okay. If there really isn’t a choice... Then I guess we have to do it.”

“Do what?” Dr. Gelcro gritted his teeth. “I don’t understand what you two are talking about!” Penny and Mint turned their attention to the dog-like zoner, remembering that he was with them. “Can you two please fill me in?” He asked as he held his hands out towards them.

Penny bit her lip. She wasn’t entirely sure what Dr. Gelcro would think of this plan. Mint had already opposed it. Even if he finally agreed, he was not liking it. And neither was she. It was not something that she was proud of. She could only imagine how Dr. Gelcro would react.

But what other choice did they have?

Penny took a few steps closer to Dr. Gelcro. She kept her eyes lined up with his. She held her hands together, rubbing them nervously. She could see the changes in Dr. Gelcro’s expression. He leaned a little away from her, as though he sensed that he was not going to like this plan. Penny wished that she could say something that would help him feel better. But the only thing that she could say was...

“You’re probably not going to like this, but...”

Penny carried on explaining her idea to Dr. Gelcro.

sss

There was a loud snapping sound, something grinding, and before he knew it, he was encased in what appeared to be a net made out of tough, nylon ropes. He barely had any time to react before he was pulled up into the air, his head crashing against the ceiling. He could feel a dull ache spreading throughout, but he hardly paid attention to that before he began to struggle.

The Beanie Boy could feel his mind racing as he realized that he had been caught. He struggled to get away, twisting and turning this way and that. He grabbed onto the ropes and tried to rip them off, but they wouldn’t budge. He tried to break through them by biting. The material was too hard to bite through, however. His panicking mind drove him to keep struggling for what felt like several minutes before he just...gave out. Soon he dangled there, swinging slowly about.

What was he going to do? What had happened here? He couldn’t figure out what was going on. It all had happened so quickly that he had barely had any time to process what went on. One second, he had been patrolling the hallway. The next, he had been caught in this net. What more could happen?

He flinched as he thought that. No, that wasn’t a good idea to think about. Best not to think about what else could happen. He didn’t want to jinx himself. It was bad enough that he had to capture his own boss and drag him back into the hell he had just escaped from. He didn’t need...

“Hello there. Remember me?”

The Beanie Boy flinched. It was too late. He had jinxed himself.

Forcing himself to turn his head, the Beanie Boy noticed that he was now being approached by three individuals. And he knew right away that none of them were his comrades. His eyes widened upon seeing them, recognizing two as the humans that they had tried to kill earlier. He gulped nervously. Just...how did the world did they survive...?

Penny was the one moving in closer. The sight of her made his heart skip a beat. He remembered her all too well. He had been the one that she threatened before. To break his neck... Instinctively, he found his hand shooting up to his neck, gripping it and rubbing it gently. He wasn’t sure if she had been serious or not, but judging from the look on her face now, and the memory of what he tried to do to her and her friend...

He had no doubts in his mind right now that she really would do something like that this time around.

Penny moved in closer towards him. Mint and Dr. Gelcro did close in space as well, but they remained behind Penny. The one that he’d rather not see right now. Gritting his teeth, the Beanie Boy moved back as Penny walked right up to him, glaring at him intently with those eyes, a hidden anger behind them.

“We just have some...questions for you.” Penny spoke. Her voice was a little chillier than it usually was. It was difficult to tell if she really meant the words that she was speaking...or if she was just acting. Either way, it was uncomfortable to listen to. “I suggest you answer them.”

The Beanie Boy struggled to think of a response to that. A part of him just wanted to say yes and get this over with. It wasn’t like he was really that loyal to Sandra, anyway. As soon as the time called for it, he would turn against her. He hated what he had to do to his real boss.

But on the other hand, Penny was not an ally, either. He did not like the idea of obeying someone else who was his enemy, especially when she had been one to him for so many years. He didn’t want to give her the benefit of being able to get anything out of him. His instinct to tell her to just ‘fuck off’ was strong.

His mind was torn between these two. They battled one another, making him feel as though he was getting a pounding headache. He had no idea just which side was going to win. Just...what was he going to do...?

Penny narrowed her eyes as she glared down at him. She did not show any signs of leaving, let alone giving him any time to think. She folded her arms behind her back, assuming a more assertive stance. “The first question, I am sure you already might have guessed..” Penny leaned in slightly. “Where are our friends?”

The Beanie Boy clenched his teeth at this. He had no idea what he was going to say. He ended up falling completely silent as he stared at Penny, his mind whirling, trying to think of something that he could say to this. “I...” That was all that he could manage before he ended up falling silent.

Penny narrowed her eyes. “Oh come on now. You can do better than that.” Dr. Gelcro and Mint nodded their heads in agreement, though they did nothing else. “You work for Sandra right now, don’t you?” At the Beanie Boy’s slow nod, Penny gave a very small, unnerving smile. “Then you should know the answer to that question. I will ask the question again and this time, I expect an answer.” She took a small step forward. When she spoke again, her voice seemed to go a little darker. “Where are our friends..?”

The Beanie Boy could feel his mind racing at this. He could feel his mind being torn into again. He could feel the mental battle waging on on just..what he should do. He knew that he might as well just tell her; there was little reason to believe that she would believe any ‘I don’t know’ answers.

But she was the enemy... He shouldn’t be telling her anything. It just wasn’t right. If he told her, he would be betraying Skrawl, wouldn’t he? Skrawl never told him to listen to these brats. Why should he do it now?

Before he could stop himself, the Beanie Boy launched hs hand out towards the girl, attempting to latch onto her. He let out a growling grunt as he did so, his eyes blazing slightly. Penny merely moved out of the way and his hand missed. He kept trying to scratch at her, his hand flopping about as he tried to reach the human. It didn’t work, however, and he just pulled his hand back. He narrowed his eyes at her.

“I see you have no interest in being cooperative.” Penny noted. The Beanie Boy bared his teeth and growled at her. She did not flinch. “I had a feeling about this.” She turned her head to the side. She gave the Beanie Boy a sideways glance. “I guess I just need to try another method to get an answer out of you.”

He could feel his heart skip a few beats at this. He struggled not to show his fear, though he ended up licking his lips slowly out of nervousness. He kept his eyes narrowed the best that he could as Penny motioned for Mint to come closer. The Beanie Boy watched in morbid curiosity. Just what were those two planning...?

“If you don’t want to cooperate willingly, I suppose we will just have to use...other means of making you talk.” Penny spoke up after she appeared to whisper something in Mint’s ear. As the former Enemy Creator drew closer to him, Penny turned her attention back to him. “Maybe this will make you more talkative.”

The Beanie Boy widened his eyes as he saw Mint reaching into his pocket. Then when he pulled out something white and thin, he took in a sharp inhalation of breath. It was magic chalk... “Wh-What are you going to do with that...?”

“So you are able to talk.” Penny spoke in a sarcastic tone.

Mint remained silent but he raised up his magic chalk. He had a smile on his face as well. A little more twisted than what he usually gave nowadays. It reminded the Beanie Boy so much of when he had worked for Skrawl. At this realization, the Beanie Boy realized the trouble that he was in.

“As for what we are going to do...” Penny motioned a hand towards Mint. “Why don’t you show him?”

“With pleasure.” Mint replied as he raised up his magic chalk in his left hand and he began to draw.

The Beanie Boy cringed as he watched the boy begin to draw, his wrists flicking about as lines filled the air. He couldn’t tell just what he was drawing. It was moving so fast. He didn’t realize just how fast Mint could draw when he really wanted to. This would have been a valuable asset before years ago, but now...

Soon, Mint was done drawing. Materializing in place was some kind of small contraption. Something silver and metal. It looked like it could easily slip over a finger. Once Mint was done with it, he held it up in the air, allowing the Beanie Boy to take a nice, long, good look at it.

The Beanie Boy stared at it in confusion. Just what was this thing? He couldn’t recognize what it was. He hadn’t seen something like this before. The only thing that he knew is that it didn’t spell good news for him. Especially with the way that these three were looking at him. Acting or not, regardless, it was quite unsettling.

“I see you are curious about this.” Penny said as she grabbed the item from Mint’s hand. She began to move even closer to the Beanie Boy, closing in whatever little gap remained between the two. “It really is quite interesting. I have seen this in a show once. And I figured it would come in handy here.” She smirked as she titled her head to one side. “Let me start off by asking this question: You know just how much a hangnail hurts?”

The Beanie Boy widened his eyes. He turned his head away as he flinched. He forced himself to say, “Y-Yes... Why?”

“Well then...” Penny brought the device a little closer. “What do you say we find out how much it hurts when the whole nail is ripped off...”

The Beanie Boy gasped loudly at this. “No...you...you wouldn’t dare...”

Penny narrowed her eyes into slits. “Do you want to try your luck...?”

The Beanie Boy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Was this even Penny at all? What was going on here? Since when did Penny get into torture? Before, she had threatened to just simply kill him if he didn’t do what she wanted. Not that he wanted to die or anything, but at least a broken neck would have ended his life quickly. But in this case, Penny had outright stated that she was going to rip off his nail, or nails if she wanted to keep going. He just...never thought that he’d see Penny, of all people, willing to commit torture.

Maybe she was lying. Maybe she did not plan on doing that to him after all. But did he really want to risk it? Did he really want to take the chance that she was bluffing, especially when he was trapped and she had the device right there in front of him? It seemed like the best decision was to...

But he didn’t want to betray Skrawl. He didn’t want to help out his enemies without his permission. What would that jellybean think of him if he helped out the creators? It was bad enough that he had to capture Skrawl. He could never forgive himself for that, especially with the way that he had been yelling at them to stop. How would...

But did it really matter what Skrawl thought right now? The jellybean was locked up; he wouldn’t know what was going on. And if they were both enemies with Sandra, wouldn’t Skrawl be more interested in uniting agaisnt a threat, albeit unwillingly, than squabbling? He might hold a grudge, but he wasn’t stupid. He had joined forces with Rudy before. He could do something like that again, right?

The Beanie Boy flinched as he felt something grab onto his arm. He looked over and he could see that it was Dr. Gelcro. The zoner doctor had grabbed on and pulled his left arm out. With his fingers exposed, he could feel cold metal being placed against one of them as Penny fit the contraption on. Mint took her place, his arm strength greater than hers, and he prepared to use the contraption at Penny’s word. The Beanie Boy stared in horror at this.

“You have five seconds to give us an answer.” Penny warned. “Or that nail is coming off.”

The Beanie Boy felt his blood turn into ice. Penny smirked at his reaction before she began to count down slowly. Time everywhere seemed to stop and the Beanie Boy became unaware of his surroundings except for these three, the net, and the nail ripping device. He breathed in and out quickly, his mind racing, struggling to think of what to say.

Then, after what felt like several minutes, Penny started to say, “Fi..”

“Wait!” The Beanie Boy called out, nearly hyperventilating. “Just..wait... Please...”

Penny raised her hand up. Mint moved his hand away from the device, though Dr. Gelcro kept gripping it just in case. She stared with narrowed eyes at the Beanie Boy. “You’ll talk then?”

The Beanie Boy nodded his head shakingly. A few fearful tears streamed down his face. “Y-Yes.. I’ll talk!” He cried out, his voice slightly choked. “I’ll tell you what you want...”

At this, Penny smiled. “Okay then. Tell me, Beanie Boy..” She reached over and she grabbed onto the nylon rope and yanked it forward. The Beanie Boy flinched at the rough movement. “Tell me where our friends are...”

The Beanie Boy shut his eyes tightly, feeling a few more tears start to move down his cheeks. He didn’t answer right away; his mind was racing too quickly for him to say anything. It took him several moments before he could compose himself well enough to answer.

“Th-They’re alive.. They’re both locked up, separated from one another. Sandra has plans for them. Different plans from what I remember...”

Penny cut off the Beanie Boy. “What kind of plans...?”

The Beanie Boy replied, “I’m...not entirely sure.” At Penny’s hand raising, he quickly added, “B-But I can tell you where they are! I-If you let me go, I’ll take you to them! You can get them out of here before Sandra has a chance to get to them!”

At this, Penny exchanged glances with the other two. They nodded their hands before they looked back at the Beanie Boy. Once they appeared to agree on this, Penny folded her arms as she stared directly into the Beanie Boy’s eyes. “Okay. It’s a deal. If you take us to our friends, we’ll let you go.”

“Are you sure..?” The Beanie Boy leaned away, gritting his teeth in fear. “You’re not pulling my leg?”

Penny nodded her head as she raised her hand up. “Creator’s honor.”

“O-Okay then...” The Beanie Boy still wasn’t sure about this. But if it meant a chance to get away and if it meant potentially getting allies against Sandra... He nodded his head in their direction keeping it low as a sign of submission. “Get me out of this net and I will take you to your friends.”

sss

However, it appeared that this Beanie Boy hadn’t been alone. The situation had been observed by yet another Beanie Boy. The flying zoner had watched helplessly, frozen in utter terror, as his comrade was taken away. His mind rapidly whirled with thoughts, unable to believe what he had just witnessed.

But though he was shocked by Penny’s dark behavior and by his comrade giving in and leading them away, he knew he could not stay put. He had to go find Sandra and inform her of what was happening. If she found out about this later on and learned that he said nothing, she would have his head.

The Beanie Boy didn’t bother wasting any time. He took one more look at the retreating group, the other Beanie Boy forced to lead them to where their friends were being held, before he turned and began to flee down the corridor. He moved as quickly as he could, right in the direction that he had seen Sandra last. He wasn’t sure if she was there or not, but he knew he had to get to her quickly or... He didn’t want to know what kind of punishment she’d lay out to them all.

It thankfully didn’t take that long to find her. She had been in the same place as before. It was a little confusing to him as to how she could have remained here in all this time. What had she been doing here while all this had been going on?

Then he took notice of how she had Snap pinned to the ground. He saw how she had a hold of his leotard. He could see that she was in the middle of giving him a lick.

The Beanie Boy couldn’t help but cringe away at this, looking away a little before forcing himself to turn back. He never thought that he’d feel actual sympathy for Snap. But here it was. In a way, he and the other Beanie Boys had been lucky. The worst they had to do was capture their own boss. He couldn’t imagine what it was like to be forced to...engage in this kind of activity with the psychopathic dragon.

Sandra grinned, exposing her teeth so close sto Snap’s face. “I do hope that made you more cooperative, dear little Snacks.” She licked her lips slowly. “Are you going to tell me where Skrawl is?”

Snap looked absolutely terrified. He was making no attempts to look brave. A testament to just how much Sandra had messed with him. “I’m telling you! I don’t know!”

Sandra lowered her ears. “Still lying? Well isn’t that too bad?” She turned her head to one side. “I suppose you need a little more.”

“No! Please!” Snap struggled on the ground, trying to break himself free. But Sandra only tightened her grip. “I really don’t know!”

“And I’m telling you that you do know. So come on, Snap. Why make this so hard on yourself?” She gave a malicious grin. All you have to do is tell me...”

The Beanie Boy was confused at first. Hadn’t they told Sandra that they caught Skrawl already? He soon realized that...no they did not. He widened his eyes and nearly slapped himself in the face. Oh how could they have forgotten that? Now he had something else to tell that dragon. He hoped that she wouldn’t rip out his throat for not telling her quicker.

Only one way to find out.

The Beanie Boy hesitated for a moment. Then, raising up his hand, he interrupted, “Hey, Sandra! I...”

Sandra lifted her head and stared over at him. The look she gave nearly pierced right through his soul, causing him to freeze. “What is it? What do you want?” She gave a brief look at Snap before staring at the Beanie Boy with one eye. “I’m kind of busy right now...”

“I have some news to bring you!” The Beanie Boy called out.

“Worthwhile news I suppose?” Inquired Sandra.

The Beanie Boy nodded his head as he moved a little closer. He took care not to get too close, however. He did not want to be close enough for Sandra to attack him with those sharp talons. “Yes. I think you find this news quite...interesting.”

Sandra took a moment to look at Snap before she got up to her feet. She used her tail to hold onto Snap, keeping him from running. She made her way closer to the Beanie Boy, dragging Snap with her until she was right up to him. She stared at him for a moment and then said, “Okay then, Beanie Boy. Tell me what you found out...”

The Beanie Boy began to speak. “You will never guess who is here...”

sss

“Are you sure this is the right way?” Mint asked. He looked left and right. “All of this seems the same..”

The Beanie Boy rolled his eyes. “So does every other part of this building. Why are you so surprised?”

Mint turned and glared at him. “Well you...”

“Mint, please shut it.” Penny told the boy sternly. She had gotten tired of this argument rather quickly and she didn’t want this fighting to continue. They were going to attract unwanted attention at this rate. Not something that they could afford. “Just let him lead us. Besides, he knows the punishment if he disobeys.”

Mint sighed and shook his head. “Okay, I’ll...try.” Mint bit his lip firmly, narrowing his eyes in one direction. “But I still say that we are wasting our time coming down here. Rudy might be kept somewhere else, and Snap...” Mint stopped when Dr. Gelcro placed his paw on his shoulder, causing him to look up at the dog.

“Please settle down. Try to keep quiet; we could be listened in on and we don’t want that, now do we?” Upon seeing Mint shake his head, Dr. Gelcro gave a small smile. “I knew you would.” Then his smile faded, replaced with a bit of a frown. “Now, let’s just get going. The faster we get to your friends, the better.” He lifted his head up, looking left and right. “I do not like this... Being out here...”

“I can’t blame you.” Mint gave a quick shudder. “This place is giving me the creeps...”

The Beanie Boy shrugged his shoulders. “You wouldn’t be the only one, human.” The Beanie Boy didn’t notice the glare that Mint was giving him. “The only one here that does not seem to mind is Sandra. Even Skrawl did not like certain areas of this place when he resided here.”

“Oh gee, ain’t that too bad.” Mint muttered under his breath.

Penny jabbed him in the arm with her elbow. He let out a yelp and he glared at her as he rubbed it, gritting his teeth. Before he could say another word, Penny shot her hand out and covered his mouth. “Please...just stop. You’ve been asked more than once, but you keep trying to antagonize the Beanie Boy. Just keep quiet and follow him, or are you trying to attract attention?”

Mint growled and jerked himself away. He took a step back, keeping his narrowed eyes on Penny for several seconds before he spoke a soft reply. “And your behavior earlier didn’t attract attention?”

Penny felt her eyes widen at that statement. Her mind reeled back as she thought about what she had done in order to get the Beanie Boy to do anything for them. She had threatened the Beanie Boy with torture, a thought that made her shudder. She was not at all proud of that, but...they had to have some way of getting the Beanie Boy to take them to their friends, right? It seemed like..the best way and...

She tried to push the thoughts out of her mind. She tried to assure herself that it was the right thing to do, even if it was horrible. They needed to save their friends, after all. They had to get them back, and this had been their one shot at finding them.

That did not alleviate the guilt, however. That had been, what, the second that that she threatened another living thing like that. This time, even worse. She had nearly acted upon that threat. She had nearly injured another sentient being on purpose for the sake of finding her friend. She could not help but feel disgusted with herself. She wasn’t sure if she could forgive herself for this.

But she did it for the right reasons... She took in a deep breath and sighed. She repeated this over and over again in her mind. She did this for good reasons.

Silence fell upon the group as they kept on moving down the hallway. Even Mint eventually fell silent, no longer interested in bantering with the Beanie Boy. Though it was clear that each of them still had something they wanted to say, whether it be statements or questions, they still did not speak, wanting to keep silent as they moved along through here.

They weren’t sure just how far they would end up walking. They didn’t know how big this place was. Even if they had seen the place on the outside as they grappled their way up, it still did not give them a good clear indication of just how much was in this place. There was still all that cacti down below them. All that space...what could occupy all of them?

They did seem to be making good progress at least. It did seem like they had gotten a good distance down and were making their way closer and closer to their destination. Or maybe it was just in their minds. Maybe they weren’t getting closer, and they were only get further away and....

No, they had to try to stay positive. As they kept walking through this dark corridor, as they tried to remain silent and tried to get through here without issues arising or darwing attention, they had to try to keep focused. They had to believe that they could do this. They could not distract themselves with fears or ‘what ifs’ or anything like that. No, they had to keep themselves moving ahead not stop, even if things began to look bleak.

And once they found Rudy...

Penny froze at that thought. She wondered how her friend was doing. She had no idea what Sandra could have done to him. She could only imagine the torture that he must be going through right now. Rudy was terrified of Sandra. She had tried to kill him before. She couldn’t imagine how he was fairing when she was trapped as a prisoner. What could Sandra have done, now that she had him alone for a while?

She tried not to think about that as she continued to follow the others. The Beanie Boy hadn’t yet made any kind of gesture to indicate that they were getting closer. They still had a ways to go. She took in a deep breath. She had to remain focused.

They soon entered a new hallway. Not that it made much of a difference. It still looked much like the others they had been in before. Penny did not notice anything special about this one. She entered this new hallway with the others with little satisfaction. She narrowed her eyes softly as she looked in the direction of the Beanie Boy. She had to wonder just how long this was going to go on for.

Thankfully, before anyone could get too irritated with these seemingly repetitive directions, the Beanie Boy had finally turned his head to them and he said, “We should be almost there.”

Penny and Mint exchanged hopeful glances at them and Dr. Gelcro’s eyes lit up. Almost immediately, they quickened their pace, following the Beanie Boy right behind him. They soon disappeared down the hallway, tracking the Beanie Boy as he continued leading them to their captured friend.

sss

Rudy hadn’t moved from his spot since earlier. Not that he could move much anywhere. He gave one more glance at his useless legs before he pressed his back against the bars behind him once more. He sucked in a deep breath and he let out a sigh.

He had enjoyed the solitude from Sandra. It had been quite relieving. But now, he found himself almost...wanting her company. Well not her specifically. Just any company. He didn’t really like being alone for extended periods of time. Not that he would go nuts or anything; but it would be nice to have someone around to talk to.

He had grown used to Jyker’s corpse at this point. The smell no longer bothered him, and when he looked over, he didn’t feel as much as before. He still felt bad for him and he still wished that he could have saved him. But he at least didn’t feel like he wanted to punish himself or anything. What happened wasn’t his fault. It was Sandra’s. There was really nothing that he could have done to prevent what had happened.

He gritted his teeth as he felt a bout of loneliness start to creep up on him. He pulled his numb legs to himself, resting his head on them as he looked left and right. It was so quiet in here. He could hear every breath that he made, hear every time that he swallowed. It had gotten to the point where it was almost irritating, aching his ears.

He wondered where Sandra was. He didn’t think that she’d be gone for this long. What was she doing? Toying with his friend? Well, he didn’t hear any screaming, but that didn’t mean that Sandra wasn’t trying...something. Perhaps she was just giving orders to the Beanie Boys? Or heading out to town, so to speak? Whatever she was doing, she was certainly taking her sweet little time. Just goes to show how much she was really confident that she had the upperhand around here. Oh how he wished to prove her wrong...

Rudy let out a sigh. Not that it mattered anyway. He couldn’t go up against her. Not like this. He didn’t even have any magic chalk. Sandra had been right before. He really was nothing without his magic chalk. With useless legs, he couldn’t even fight back normally. Just...what good was he right now anyway? He did try not to let himself feel too far down. But it was pretty difficult, and he could feel his mood sink lower.

He wished he knew what was going on with Snap. He had a feeling that he wasn’t going to like it, but he’d rather know. He had heard him screaming earlier.... Just what had Sandra done to him? He could feel his heart twist at the mere thought.

And his two best human friends, Penny and Mint... what had happened to them? He had been struggling to come to terms with what could have happened. He tried to picture it in his mind, tried to think of something...but he just kept drawing a blank. This caused him to grit his teeth nervously, and he could feel his heart skipping several beats. He could not stop himself from thinking the chilling thought...

What if Sandra had been telling the truth?

This hadn’t been the first time that he considered that possibility. He had fought it off before. Sandra had just been trying to get inside his mind and screw with him. He shouldn’t believe a word that she says. No matter what, no matter how hard it might be, he had to consider that everything that she said was a lie just to mess with his head.

But that had gotten more difficult to believe in these recent moments. What if she really was right? He hadn’t heard his friends’ screams at all, or any sound. They didn’t have magic chalk. Sandra did not really have a need for them and she wasn’t stupid; there was no way that she would have just let them waltz out of there unharmed.... Something must have happened.

He gripped the sides of his face, gritting his teeth. No, that wasn’t possible. They would have gotten away somehow. There was no way that they could have...

He wasn’t able to fight off the feelings entirely, however. He could feel tears forming in his eyes, dripping down the sides of his face. The reality was...there wasn’t much else that could have happened. The odds of survival were stacked against them. His friends really could be dead... Oh no...

Unable to take it, Rudy placed his hands to his face and he began to cry softly. He didn’t bother trying to stop himself. He didn’t care if Sandra saw him like this. At the moment the only thing that he did care about was releasing the pent up emotion that had been going on ever since he had been separated from his friends.

Just then, he thought he heard something. It was small at first, but it was enough to get him to raise his head up. He looked left and right slowly. What was that sound? Almost like thudding, only faint and far away.

No, it was getting closer. He could tell. It was slowly, gradually getting louder. Something was coming this way. Or rather, someone was getting closer. He could feel his heart clench. Though it was difficult, he struggled to move himself around so that he could look over at wherever the sound had been coming from, licking his lips nervously.

It had to be Sandra. She must be coming back to have a little ‘fun’ with him. Despite his earlier longing for some company, that immediately washed away as he thought about all that Sandra could do to him. In what more ways could she possibly torture him? He had a feeling that she would help him find out. And he would rather not know.

But when the sounds got closer, he started to notice something else. He could hear something...like talking? Yes, it was definitely talking. It was too distant for him to be able to tell just what it was. But it was enough that knew that this was not talking by one person, but by multiple people. He knew immediately what this meant: Sandra was not alone...

But wait, if she was talking with someone, and it sounded like there was no struggle or fighting, why would it sound like more than one person was walking? The Beanie Boys didn’t walk. She couldn’t be walking with them. But she knew of no other person that she worked with. But if this isn’t the case, then who the heck was coming down this way...? Rudy could feel himself tense up and he watched the entry way into this room intently, waiting to see just who it was that was coming.

As time passed, the voices began to get clearer and clearer. Rudy was starting to understand a few of the words. Then, as a few more moments passed, he began to recognize the voices. Well almost. They were getting recognizable, but not enough that he had a solid clue of who they were yet. But he could still understand what they were saying.

“Are we getting closer?”

“Yes, just be patient.”

“We have been patient this entire time!”

“Are you taking us in circles?”

“No, I told you before! Your friend is nearby! Just trust me on this!”

“You haven’t given us much of a reason to trust you...”

Rudy’s eyes bulged wide at this. He took in a few deep breaths as he struggled to comprehend what he was hearing. There was no way that he could possibly mistake that voice for anyone else. That tone, the manner of speaking... He only knew of one person who spoke like that, who sounded like that. And the realization caused a tidal wave of emotion to strike him.

When he waited long enough, and he could see the shadows upon the wall, and he could tell that two of them were clearly human, Rudy could feel his mouth tugging upward into a smile. He could feel tears of joy start to come down from his eyes despite his attempts to stop them. He struggled and eventually managed to keep himself under control. He struggled to keep himself as dignified as possible.

Only that broke quite quickly as soon as he was able to see his friends show up. He couldn’t stop the loud gasp from escaping his mouth. It... It really was them, wasn’t it? He recognized their faces immediately. He hardly registered their relieved, shocked, and confused looks. The only thing that he could notice was that...they really were here. Sandra had been lying after all. The emotional impact of this struck him in the face and he couldn’t stop himself from starting to cry a little more.

“Rudy!” Penny was the first one to react. She started to rush towards him quickly. “Are you okay?!”

Mint joined in close behind her. His eyes were filled with equal concern. “Are you hurt? What did Sandra do to you?”

Rudy could not bring himself to even respond. He was too busy just staring at them, feeling an overwhelming joy that they really were okay. A little banged up, but still breathing. There was no doubt in his mind that these really were them, that they really were still alive. He wanted to reach out and grab them and hold them. But his trembling body wouldn’t let him do so.

However, Penny had taken that over for him gladly. She reached into the cage with her arms and she grabbed onto one of his wrists. She lifted it up and she placed a hand over it, encasing it in her own. The warmth was quite comforting, and he could feel himself settling down.

“It’s okay, Rudy.” Penny whispered in a soft, gentle voice. “We’re going to get you out of here.”

“Yeah. Don’t you worry. You won’t be trapped like an animal for long.” Mint said as he lifted up a piece of magic chalk. Rudy widened his eyes at the sight of this. “Just relax and we will have you out of there in a jiffy.”

Rudy smiled at this, but then turned his gaze over and noticed there was someone else among the group. He was not too surprised to see Dr. Gelcro, but the Beanie Boy...

“He led us here.” Penny spoke up, noticing Rudy’s confusion.

Mint smirked. “It was easy once we were able to get him to listen to us.”

Rudy narrowed his eyes. “How did..?”

“We just...”

“You two are still alive?!”

Everyone froze at the sudden, booming female voice that suddenly rang through the air. No one moved for several seconds. Hearts pounded or froze. Blood became ice. Teeth clenched. Breathing rates increased. It took several seconds before anyone could even start turning their heads over.

There stood Sandra, right in the doorway. Behind her was another Beanie Boy, who wore an unreadable expression. And the other Beanie Boy was cringing, as though waiting for some kind of punishment. Rudy found it hard to look away, his neck muscles feeling almost as though they had been completely frozen.

Sandra’s eyes were wide in absolutely shock, her mouth partially open. Her pupils were a bit larger than normal, and then they shrunk as she gritted her teeth. Her focus was only on Penny and Mint, Rudy quickly noticed. Dr. Gelcro was ignored, she paid no mind to the Beanie Boys, and she had only spared a quick glance at him before keeping her focus on the two humans.

Slowly, she took a few steps forward. Her body hunched a little, her tail swooshing slowly behind her at a steady rate. Her widened eyes barely looked away from the two humans. There was a strong sense of disbelief in her eyes, as though she could not comprehend what was going on.

In spite of his fear, Rudy felt the urge to smile. Sandra had been so certain that she had killed his friends. And now it’s been revealed that they’re very much alive and well. Whatever she had tried to do to them, they had outsmarted her and got away. Just like he had expected. They were too smart for her to keep down for very long. She had made the gigantic mistake of underestimating them. Now she was going to pay the price for that.

Sandra now stood a few feet away from Mint and Penny. The two teenagers had adopted a defensive stance, their backs slightly arched and magic chalk held up, letting Sandra get a nice, long, good look at them. Sandra stared at the pieces of chalk, her facial expression quickly flickering to show a bit of fear and uncertainty. She returned her eyes to them, locking them in eye contact.

The initial shock had quickly warn off, however. Sandra’s shook her head and her body became loose. She straightened herself up, folding her arms behind her back. She looked down at them, a dark smile spreading across her face. She just stood there for several moments, doing nothing but smile at them. It somehow made the scene look even more intense. Rudy couldn’t help but frown in curiosity, wondering just what Sandra was up to.

“So you are still alive after all.” Sandra commented. She tilted her head slightly up. “You are more clever than I imagined. I do have to wonder, though...just how you survived..” Sandra looked over at the two Beanie Boys, who immediately cringed and backed off.

“It wasn’t us!”

“We had nothing to do with it!”

Sandra just chuckled at this. “I see...” She looked back at Penny and Mint. She took another step forward. The symbol on her head gave a slight glow. Nothing happened; it must have been just her way of warning them not to do anything stupid. “Would you two kind humans tell me how you two managed to get out...?” She moved forward, her back becoming partially parallel to the ground. Mint and Penny backed up a little as she drew a little too close. “I would love to know...”

“It’s none of your business how we escaped!” Mint snapped at her. He raised up his magic chalk threateningly. “If you take one more step closer....!”

Sandra widened her eyes for a moment, and then she raised up her hands. “Oh okay!” She made a few quick gestures with her hand. “No need to get excited! I’m sure we can all work this out...” She tapped her feather finger tips together, a smile still plastered over her face, her teeth exposed in a grin. “Perhaps we can...talk about something else? Like...I don’t know...” She motioned her hand to one side. “...how you two got in here without someone noticing?” Again she glared at the Beanie Boys, making them tremble.

Penny narrowed her eyes. “There’s no way that we would tell you how we got back..”

Mint nodded his head in agreement. “Now let our friend go!”

“Oh really? Let him go?” Sandra tapped the side of her cheek, a knowing expression appearing on the side of her face. “Are you sure about that?”

“Yes, we’re sure!” Mint hissed through his clenched teeth. “We want you to let him go!”

“You mean...like how I let him go...?” Sandra pointed her finger behind them.

Rudy couldn’t help but feel a sting in his chest when he saw Penny and Mint’s expressions at the ripped apart body of Jyker. Penny put her hand to her mouth and she gasped and took a step back. Mint just froze completely, his body looking as though it could not move. He took in a shaky, gulpy gasp, and made a sound that made it seem as though he was going to throw up at any time.

Penny was the first one to react. She didn’t turn her head when she spoke. She just kept staring at Jyker’s limbless body. “Wh-What have you done...?” She managed to ask.

“I simply...liberated him.” Sandra raised her hand up in gesture. “Not like he was going to last long anyway.”

Mint hunched his shoulders and gritted his teeth. Whipping his head over, he shot a glare at Sandra. “You monster!”

Sandra just shrugged her shoulders. “Eh, whatever. At least I gave him some kind of purpose.” She chuckled, her body moving slightly with each laugh. When she settled down, she spoke in a slightly darker tone of voice. “Just like that condor....”

At this, Rudy could have sworn he heard something snap inside Penny’s mind. Never before had he ever seen her move that quickly. In what felt like half a second, her head had already been turned, and she was staring intently over at Sandra.

Rudy struggled to figure out something to tell Penny. He could feel the tension in the air rising, and he though he could feel heat from Penny’s emotions. He took in a couple of breaths. He had to figure out a way to stop her, before she did something to hurt herself. But he couldn’t think of anything to say.

And it only got worse when Mint joined in. He had adopted a more hostile stance, a soft growl eminating from his mouth. He didn’t say anything, but judging from his growling, Rudy was glad that he was keeping silent. And Dr. Gelcro... At least he was keeping back but the flattened ears against his head indicated just how pissed off he was. The Beanie Boys still hung back, wearing guilty expressions as though they had something to do with it.

But Mint and Penny did not pay attention to them. Their focus was entirely on Sandra. For several moments, they just stood there, bodies rigid and stiff. Emotions were sweeping through their minds. But they did not attempt to make a move.

Then Penny eventually spoke. “You.... You’re the one who killed Courtney...?”

Sandra stared at her long and hard. Then she gave a smile and nodded her head. “Oh yes, I fully confess to that.” She placed a hand to her chest. “One of my finest kills. It had been so easy, too!”

Penny narrowed her eyes deeply. “Murderer....”

Sandra seemed perplexed by this reaction, but not by much. She just shrugged it off like it was no big deal. “I don’t see what you’re so upset about. Not like I had let her go to waste or anything. After I made her heart explode, I had used the Beanie Boys to...”

That was all that she could say before Penny rushed over towards her, startling even Mint who looked ready to take action as well. Sandra stared down at Penny with wide eyes as the girl brought back her fist and punched her right on her cheek. The blue dragon zoner let out a yelp of pain as she stammered back, nearly losing her footing in the process.

Quickly recovering, Sandra narrowed her eyes at Penny, her pupils shrinking into dots. They glared at one another for several long moments. Penny adopted a defensive stance, her hands forming into fists. Mint joined her by her side, getting ready to fight as well. Rudy wanted to call out to them and stop them, but he found himself almost entranced by what was going on.

Sandra and the two humans began to circle around each other slowly. Sandra kept her eyes on them, watching to see if they’d draw. And Penny and Mint were trying to see if she was getting ready to use her powers or not, likely prepared for a counteract just in case. The circling lasted for a few moments before they stopped.

At this point, Sandra had her side turned to them, as though to make herself appear larger. Her tail still twitched about like an angry cat. Her body was hunched over, her feather fingers curling up. Her teeth were bared, exposing their razor sharp tips. She looked ready to attack...and yet something was holding her back.

The magic chalk... Rudy knew that this was the only thing that kept her from attacking. She was staring intently at the magic chalk a few times, her expression holding great caution. She knew full well what the magic chalk could do to her.

Now they just... Wait... What was Dr. Gelcro doing...?

No one was able to find the time to react when something white and black flashed in front of Sandra. The dragon zoner let out a screech of pain when Dr. Gelcro sank his teeth into her neck. The impact of his tackle caused her to fall into the ground and she kicked her legs wildly as she tried to get him off.

Shifting his gaze over to them, he called out in a muffled voice, “Get Rudy out of here!”

Rudy couldn’t believe what was going on. He hadn’t expected Dr. Gelcro to do something like this. Rudy wanted to shout at him, get him to let go. He didn’t want him to do anything crazy or stupid. He had to try to get himself out as well. He just..had to get away... But Rudy could not get his voice to work.

He looked over as he saw Mint and Penny trying to get to him. They were trying to get him free. But before they could even get that close, the Beanie Boys had finally taken action. They charged at them, knocking them away. Rudy watched as they had a scuffle. Mint and Penny tried to fight back, but the Beanie Boys were too swift for them. No matter how hard they tried, they just weren’t able to draw long enough before one of those floating zoners knocked into them, stopping their drawing in their tracks.

Eventually, the two were forced to back down. Rudy watched with his heart clenching and twisting as the Beanie Boys began to usher them towards the doorway, away from him. Soon he could no longer see them and he realized that they must have been forced into a retreat. Rudy watched this for several moments before Dr. Gelcro’s screaming caught his attention.

The brief struggle between dog and dragon had finally ended. Rudy was horrified to see that Dr. Gelcro was down on his knees, clutching his chest tightly. His head was pulled back, his teeth bared as he gave several ‘ngh’ sounds. Sandra had her hand out, her feather fingers curved upwards. She glared at the dog zoner, her eyes blazing, her teeth bared in a snarl. This lasted for a short time before she lowered her head and that snarl turned into a nasty smile.

Rudy realized what was going to happen and he reached out with his hand. “Wait! Don’t!”

But it was too late. With a twist of her wrist, there was some kind of muffled popping sound and Dr. Gelcro’s body stiffened up, his eyes going wide. They soon gained a sort of cloudiness to them, becoming unfocused, and then he collapsed into the ground in a loud thud. His body went through the throes of death before becoming completely limp.

Then silence.


	36. Patience Is A Virtue

..and so we go back to the remedy!  
-Remedy, Seether

sss

Everything had happened so fast. The dog zoner barely had time to fully comprehend it. His mind was spinning faster and faster, trying to process everything. There was just so much going on at once.

Just...how did he get to this point? How had he gotten to this particular spot? Standing here, all frozen in pain. When had he been attacked? Just now? Maybe, but it almost felt like that this pain had been going on forever, spreading throughout his body relentlessly, forcing him to confront it.

And there was Sandra. He could taste her blood on his tongue. Had he bitten her? His memories, which were getting fuzzy at this point, seemed to recall this. He wasn’t really sure if he was just making up memories if they were absolutely genuine. They certainly felt real anyway.

He couldn’t think for too long, however. He grabbed his hand against his throat as he struggled to breathe. Something was preventing him from taking in breaths so easily. His eyes widened big even without his conscious input and he thought he could feel some kind of cold flush going through his face. He could hear his heavy panting, each one sounding louder and louder than the last one.

His heart... There was something wrong with his heart. Why was it going so fast? Had he been running? He didn’t recall running anywhere. But despite this, he still felt as though he needed to lay down and rest. No, not just rest, but go to sleep.

Yet he couldn’t even move. It felt as though something had frozen him in place. There was nothing holding him, though. He was not restrained in any way. So why couldn’t he move? Was it the pain that was still rushing through his body? Yes, it had to be. It could be nothing else. He could feel his body freeze at another wave of agony and he struggled not to yelp.

He managed to move one thing and that was his eyes. Ever so slowly, centimeter by centimeter, he was able to turn his eyes over so that he could see someone else who was here other than Sandra. He could make out a very blurry form, the vision in his eyes starting to go a little dark. It took him several moments, but he was soon able to recognize the distinctive form of a human.

Rudy Tabootie.

In that moment, he could feel a pang of guilt. His mind started to explode with memories of what had happened years ago. How he had accused him of being a traitor... How he had nearly had his best friend executed... He would have shed a small tear of remorse if he could have.

Sometimes he wondered if Rudy had ever truly forgiven him. He wouldn’t really blame him if he hadn’t. He didn’t really deserve forgiveness. He should have acted better. He should have controlled himself. There were a lot of things that he could have and should have done...but did not. He chuckled bitterly to himself. Perhaps he really did deserve this.

Well, perhaps this time, he did some good. Maybe he was finally useful for something. He isn’t entirely sure what he did. The pain was blocking that out. But whatever he did, he hoped that it was good enough for...

He stopped, freezing up when he felt something break open inside his chest. His eyes widened from the shere agony of it. In the next long, couple seconds, he realized, almost tiredly, that he had lost his heart. There was no doubt about it; he was a doctor. He knew where the heart was located.

He gave a small, accepting smile at this. So this was his fate? Well then, he hoped that Dr. Crobat wouldn’t...

His mind went completely blank and numb as he faintly registered himself collapsing into the ground.

sss

Rudy couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He could do nothing to look away from the horrific sight before him. When he heard the body of Dr. Gelcro collide with the ground, a sickening thud ringing out everywhere, it was so hard not to throw up. Even moments after the collision, he still couldn’t look away, licking his lips slowly as his panicking mind try to figure out just what had happened.

He kept watching the body, in utter disbelief that this had actually happened. Was Dr. Gelcro really...? No... He wasn’t. He...He would get up soon. He just had to. All he needed to do was just sit here and wait for him to rise up from the ground. He refused to look away, refused to say anything, as he waited for...something to happen. Maybe if he waited long enough....

But nothing was going on. Dr. Gelcro’s body still remained on the ground, unmoving. Those eyes were still open, a chilling cloudiness over them, signifying that..they were no longer seeing anything. Rudy struggled to control his shaky breathing, struggled to assure himself that everything was fine. Dr. Gelcro would wake up soon and he’d continue his fighting against Sandra.

But he just...wasn’t moving. He couldn’t even see his body twitching anymore. Nor could he register any kind of breathing. He was just...laying there, fully unconscious and fully unresponsive, even when Sandra cruelly kicked him in the side.

Rudy moved his head up stiffly, his eyes staring upon Sandra’s form. She was paying no heed to him; her attention was fully on the body on the ground before her. She was glaring at Dr. Gelcro in contempt, her lip curled up into the snarl. The blood was quite noticeable on her neck, leaking from the wound that Dr. Gelcro had managed to give her.

“Hrmph.. How pathetic...” Sandra hissed through her clenched teeth. “Of course you would do something so completely reckless and stupid.” She looked as if she was going to kick him again. But something seemed to have changed her mind and she lowered her foot to the ground once more. “Well, I won’t let your body go to waste. At least you’d be good for something then.”

At this, Rudy could feel his mind flashing. He recalled Sandra’s previous words. How she had killed Courtney and how she had stored her meat for consumption... And now here she was, getting ready to eat someone else. Another living thing... Almost right away, he could feel something rising up inside of him. A heated sensation, his blood boiling.

No..he was not going to allow that to happen. Not again... If Sandra ate Dr. Gelcro while he was in the vicinity, he’d never forgive himself. Dr. Gelcro didn’t deserve this. He deserved a proper burial. And for Sandra to try to decicrate his body like this... That wretched, disgusting monster...

Before Rudy realized what he was doing, he was ramming himself against the bars. He pulled himself back and continuously struck against the bars. Again and again... Even when the pain became rapidly stronger, spreading throughout himself, he still didn’t stop. The only thing that he could think of doing was just...keep ramming, trying to break the bars down. Something, anything to get out of here...

His legs might be useless, but his arms sure weren’t. He soon grabbed onto the bars and tried to pull them apart. They were stiff and hard, but that didn’t stop him from trying. He mustered up as much strength as he cold, his arm muscles tightening, a burning sensation spreading through the ligaments and tendons inside. He did stop a few times for rest, but these would only last a very short time before continuing on ramming himself against the bars.

Eventually, his efforts caught Sandra’s attention. She swung her head over and she stared at him with a set of narrowed eyes. Rudy nearly froze at the sight of her, but he managed to, against his frozen mind’s judgment, keep going. He refused to stop, continuously hitting the bars with his shoulders, or trying to pry them apart, or even punching them with his fists. He didn’t care how much it hurt or how Sandra was looking at him. He was going to get these open, no matter what it took.

“Why are you straining yourself, Great Creator?”

Rudy paused, feeling his blood turn to ice when Sandra spoke. He glared over in her direction, struggling to hide his fear as she started to make her way over towards him.

“You shouldn’t hurt yourself like that. You might break something...” Sandra said, having stepped over Dr. Gelcro’s body and made her way towards him. She walked slowly and deliberately, and Rudy could practically hear the echoing thud each time her foot hit against the ground. She spread her dark, sadistic smile across her face. “Are you really that eager to experience another break again?”

Rudy hissed at this. He no longer rammed himself, instead stiffening his body in defense. Not like he could do anything. But that didn’t stop him from trying to look threatening as Sandra made her way over towards him, her grin spreading wider, exposing more of her pointed fangs.

“Well if you really want to.. I guess I can’t really argue.” Sandra placed her hand to herself, lowering herself so that her head was a little closer to him. She looked him directly in the eyes, the lids partially closed. “I suppose your neck could use another go.”

Rudy couldn’t stop the yelp from escaping his lips. He nearly jumped back into the air, nearly fell into the ground. He moved himself back, cringing as he stared at Sandra. He could feel his eyes growing wide, his mouth emitting shaky gasps. He couldn’t stop himself from staring at Sandra with this horrified expression.

Sandra didn’t say anything in response to that. The only thing that she did do was chuckle twistedly. Rudy cringed at this, gritting his teeth. He could feel his mind being frozen in place, unable to process many thoughts. He licked hs lips slowly as his mind forced him to relive those horrible moments years ago, when Sandra had bitten down on his neck and...

No, he couldn’t allow himself to fall into fear like that again. He had to fight back. He had to confront Sandra. She might have hurt him years ago, but that was in the past. Now he had the chance to fight back. She was close enough, wasn’t she? All he had to do was...

But he couldn’t get himself to move. No matter what he tried or what he did, he couldn’t move. Despite his desperate attempts to shake off his fear, there was still...something holding him back. A deep, chilled fear that had locked his body up, preventing him from moving. He stared wide-eyed at Sandra, only managing to narrow his eyes slightly.

Sandra slowly raised her pointer finger upwards, giving another dark chuckle. “There is so much that I could do to you right now, Rudy Tabootie. Oh so much... For tricking me into thinking that your friends were dead...”

“Wh-What..? But...you’re the one who...” Rudy tried to say, but Sandra cut him off.

“Oh such a clever boy you thought you were... But you weren’t clever enough..” Sandra’s eyes glinted. “Now look at where you are. Your friends are gone, your only other ally is dead, and you are still trapped in that cage. With just the flick of my finger, I could kill you. And I will stand here and watch and laugh.”

Rudy didn’t even try to speak at this point. It was no use. She wouldn’t listen to him. She was too far gone in her emotions to really pay much attention to what he was saying. The only thing he could do was just remain quiet and listen to Sandra’s horrendous ranting.

He couldn’t feel all that surprised that she was blaming him for this. But it was still quite a shock anyway. She was the one who told him that his friends were dead. And yet she was acting as though it was a lie that he had given to her. She was just trying to transfer the guilt over to him. She was just trying to convince herself that it wasn’t her fault things were not going her way. Typical Sandra, always trying to find ways to make it sound like nothing was her fault...

“But you know what? You caught me in a good mood...” Sandra moved in so close that her snout nearly pressed up against the bars. “Maybe I won’t try to kill you. Maybe I will just keep...playing with you...” She turned her head to one side, slightly downward. “Yes... I still have a use for you...”

Still Rudy could not reply. He did bare his teeth and growl at her, but it was out of fear and Sandra knew it, judging from her expression. Rudy found himself raising his hands up, arching his fingers downward, unable to even form a single fist. He continued to grit his teeth and growl as he glared in her direction. He could feel a cold wave of emotion strike through him as he shivered.

Sandra just smirked at this. She said nothing for several moments before she suddenly reached into his cage and she grabbed onto his shirt collar. Rudy let out a yelp as he was yanked forward. “Why don’t we have a little...chat... And you can figure out just how you are going to make it up to me for lying...”

Rudy growled at this, keeping his teeth bared. But he wasn’t able to stop the cold wave of fear striking him, especially when he saw just the way Sandra was looking at him...

What did she have planned? What was she going to do to him? Why wouldn’t she stop smirking at him? What was she....?

Sandra cut him off from his thoughts.

“I know how I can..persuade you to be more...cooperative.”

Rudy gave a sudden shudder when he felt something touch against his face. Sandra’s hand caressed his cheek back and forth slowly. He looked at this for several seconds before shifting his gaze at Sandra, his eyes filling with a mixture of fear and confusion. This only caused Sandra’s smile to spread further

“I see you are confused. Oh don’t worry. It’ll all make sense to you soon enough...” Sandra moved her hand away and she started to walk towards the door. “I will help you understand.”

Sandra opened up the door and shut it behind her. She then made her way over towards Rudy. There was something slightly different from the way that she was walking. It was subtle, but still noticeable. Rudy couldn’t quite understand the meaning of this. The only thing that he could determine was that she seemed almost...happier. If that made any sense.

Soon Sandra was upon him. Rudy half expected her to strike him or use her powers on him to hurt him from the inside. But instead, she did something completely unexpected.

Rather than just attack, Sandra gripped onto his arms firmly. He grunted from the pain of her tight squeezingly them. She pulled him up roughly, putting her face close to his and smiling at him. Rudy leaned himself away, a wary eye glued to her. Sandra just chortled before she suddenly whirled him around and pushed him into the ground. She leaned her body forward applying weight to her grasp, making it hard for him to move.

“What...What are you doing?” Rudy finally asked, his heart pounding in his chest. “What are you up to?”

Sandra tilted her head to one side. “Why don’t I...help you understand?”

Rudy widened his eyes in horror as Sandra started to lower her head. She licked her lips eagerly and her mouth slowly opened up. Rudy struggled against her, jerking himself from side to side. But nothing would stop her and soon, he could feel her teeth pressing against his neck. He immediately stiffened up, freezing on the spot. He laid there, waiting for the teeth to begin slicing into his neck.

sss

“Grr... They have to be around here somewhere! Keep looking!”

“But we’ve tried! There’s no sign of them anywhere!”

“They couldn’t have up and disappeared! Just keep trying! We’ll find them eventually.”

Mint struggled to keep himself quiet as he listened to the Beanie Boys banter back and forth. He gritted his teeth as he heard them getting closer. Where they going to discover their hiding spot? Were they going to realize what he and Penny had done? He tried to control his breathing, half terrified that they were going to hear him because he was so loud.

Thankfully, this turned out to not be the case. In a matter of moments, he could hear some grumbling, and then the Beanie Boys appeared to move away. Mint could not tell if they had disappeared, though. But at least they weren’t that close to their hiding spot anymore. This allowed him to take in a deep breath and exhale slowly. What a relief...

He struggled to calm his racing mind. He couldn’t believe just how close it had been... Those Beanie Boys were quite relentless. They just wouldn’t give up. He and Penny had tried so hard to use the magic chalk to slow them down, but they hadn’t been able to use it much, for the Beanie Boys would attack them from behind. They did continue to try, with very little success. He wondered just how many unfinished lines he and Penny had left behind while they ran.

He looked over at Penny, noticing how she was leaning against the wall nearby, trying to catch her breath as well. He could see how her eyes had widened like saucers, almost to the point where they might as well fall out. Not like he could blame her; she had been especially targeted, likely out of revenge for what she had threatened to do to that one Beanie Boy.

He could feel his blood run cold at this. A part of him still couldn’t believe that they had particpated in that. It was a low trick, quite the disturbing tactic. Even Dr. Gelcro had...

He winced as he thought about Dr. Gelcro. He wondered how he was doing. They had been forced to leave him behind when the Beanie Boys had chased them away. He wanted so much to turn around and go back and help him. But right now, he and Penny were having problems of their own. It was just too risky to exit out of here. Not with those Beanie Boys hanging around outside...

It had been shere luck that he and Penny were able to draw those popping rocks to slow them down. Once they had exploded in their faces, that had given them enough time to rush over here and draw a wall. They had moved as quickly as they could and now they were sealed up inside. It was not pitch dark as they drew a small light source on the wall so that they could see. But they weren’t able to move until the Beanie Boys left.

And so far, they hadn’t. They appeared to be hanging around this spot. They would move down, and then come back up again, and then they’d move back. They would repeat this over and over. He wasn’t sure if they knew they were there and they were just trying to figure out where in the walls they were, or if they were just stupid and had nothing better to do. Either way, he and Penny weren’t going anywhere any time soon.

“I don’t think they’re around here...”

Mint felt such great relief at those words. He struggled not to sigh too loudly. He instead just pressed his ear against the wall and struggled to listen, trying to hear whatever else they were going to say.

“I don’t know where else they could have gotten off to, though.” The other Beanie Boy replied. He made a sound that made it seem like he was gritting his teeth. “They were just here a moment ago! How could they disappear so fast?”

“Maybe there’s a secret passage way here?” The other suggested. “Maybe...”

“There’s nothing else here, you idiot!” He struck his comrade hard, causing him to yelp in pain. “You should know that!”

“Ow! Geeze... No need to get so testy!” After a few moments, he continued, “So...what do you suggest then? If there isn’t a secret passageway here, then..”

“I’m not really sure, okay? But something weird is going on around here and we have to figure out what it is. We need to find those two brats. You have any idea what Sandra will do to us if we come back empty handed? She’d probably kill us!”

“Yes I know. She isn’t exactly the most forgiving person that we know. But...could she really blame us if we weren’t able to find them? So long as we tried...”

“...you don’t know Sandra that well.”

Finally, something that Mint could agree with the Beanie Boys on.

Sandra really was unpredictable. There was no telling what she would do or how she would react in a situation. There were some ideas that they were positive on, such as never reveal that you broke a promise in her face. But for many times, it was hard to tell what she’d do. Especially lately as she’s become unhinged...

He struggled to keep his mind from filling up with too much disturbing imagery. Though this was a difficult task, especially as his mind filled with more and more pictures of a savage, bloodthirsty Sandra looking at him, waiting to sink her teeth into him...

He couldn’t help but feel a pang of guilt. It was, after all, partially his fault that Sandra was like this. He should have been more careful. He should have tried to take precautions just in case something went wrong. But he didn’t and now...this was happening. If only he had thought to put in some kind of...he wasn’t sure of the term...failsafe? Yes, he should have put in one of those in.

But he didn’t, did he? And now because of that, countless zoners were suffering. Some of those zoners talking behind his back were right. He really was still the Enemy Creator.

“Mint?”

He barely heard that whisper. It had been spoken so low... But he knew where it had come from. He turned his head and he could see that Penny had moved in closer to him, staring at him intently. She wore a concerned expression and she looked as if she were attempting to reach out and touch him.

“Are you okay?” She asked in a soft, gentle voice. “You look a little...”

Mint gritted his teeth and looked away from her. “I’m fine...” He told her quickly. “I’m just...fine.”

“Mint...” He looked back at her. He could see that she had narrowed her eyes at him this time, wearing a look of disbelief. “Don’t lie to me. I’m not stupid. I can tell when something is troubling you...” She paused for a moment before breathing in deeply and exhaling, all the while doing her best to stay quiet. “So please..tell me what is wrong.”

Mint gritted his teeth, wondering what he could say to her. He wondered what she would think of him when she found out. He wondered if it was a good idea to even say anything at all, or if he should force himself to remain quiet.

But...Penny was his friend, right? She would understand. Perhaps she could even help him feel better. She might be able to help him quell any sort of fears or worries that he might have. She was good at that. She had always been the mediator of the group. This wouldn’t be any different from that, right?

But..he did still feel a little...nervous about telling her. He still wasn’t entirely certain if she would understand. And even then...how would he know what to tell her? He didn’t even know where to begin. It’d be tough for him to try to get help from her if he didn’t even know the first thing to tell her..

He did still need to try though. He just...had to try...

“W-Well...you see...” Mint clenched his teeth tightly. He wasn’t even sure how he was going to word this. How was he going to confess to Penny how he was feeling? How was he going to get his message across? He still attempted to continue. “I was just...I..”

Penny narrowed her eyes softly in concern. “You are worried about your role with Sandra, aren’t you?”

Mint widened his eyes at this. He stared down at Penny, wondering how in the world she could have thought of that. “H-How did you...?”

Penny smiled at him gently. “Mint, you’re my friend. I can tell just by looking at you that you are feeling guilty.” She then frowned softly, taking a small step towards him. “And you shouldn’t feel guilty about that. It wasn’t your fault that this happened. It wasn’t your fault Sandra ended up like this. Please...” She reached over and placed her hand on his shoulder. “...don’t beat yourself up over that.”

Mint looked at the hand on his shoulder. He stared at it for a few seconds. Then he looked down at Penny, his eyes still just as wide as before, his mouth partially open. He remained silent for several moments as he stared at Penny in the eyes, trying to think of just how to comprehend this.

A part of him wasn’t sure why Penny was alleviating him of the guilt so easily. Shouldn’t he have been more responsible? Shouldn’t he have tried harder to ensure this wouldn’t happen? In the end, he was still responsible for what was going on, as if it hadn’t been for him, Sandra wouldn’t be here to begin with. Perhaps Rudy and Penny should have left him to die all those years ago...

He nearly slapped himself in the face when he thought that. How could he have let himself get so mopey like that? He recalled the time that he had allowed himself to be locked in guilt for...two weeks was it? Yes, two weeks. And what did he accomplish in that time? Nothing. Absolutely nothing.

And Penny... He should be grateful that she was still willing to stand by him. In fact, he did feel relief, even if a part of him wasn’t sure if he really deserved it. But still, Penny was his friend and she was doing what she could to cheer him up. She and Rudy both knew that he was responsible for Sandra and yet they hadn’t abandoned him before. So why would they do it again?

After he managed to shake off the brief moment of feeling sorry for himself, he gave a small smile to Penny. “Thanks...I...really needed that.”

Penny smiled back at him. “No problem, Mint.”

Mint and Penny continued to smile at each other before they turned their attention back to the wall before them. Despite this reconciliation, they still had something to worry about.

The Beanie Boys.

They hadn’t yet been heard despite their whispering. But the Beanie Boys hadn’t yet left. They were still there, talking amongst each other on what they should do. It didn’t seem like they were going to leave any time soon. This realization made Mint grit his teeth. How were they supposed to get away from here if the Beanie Boys wouldn’t leave?

There was making a new trail of course. They could draw an opening in the wall. But they didn’t know where it was going to lead to. They didn’t know if there was some kind of trap or something on the other side. It would be...

...wait a moment. Why didn’t they...?

Mint would have kicked himself in the shins if he wasn’t too stiffened by the shock of the realization. There was something that they hadn’t yet tried. He looked behind him, at the wall that was opposite of the one that they created. He moved over slowly towards it and he placed his hand on it, moving his palm back and forth across it slowly.

“Mint?” Penny asked as she looked at him in confusion. “What...what are you doing...?”

Mint didn’t answer her right away. He just continued to stare at the wall, stroking it lightly. His mind’s gears turned rapidly as he envisioned something that he and Penny could do. They still had the magic chalk. There were still so many options that he and Penny had with this. If they could just think of something...

Then again, there may be a slight chance that it wouldn’t work. Maybe they wouldn’t draw the right device or maybe it wouldn’t materialize or... He knew he was being too paranoid about the whole thing. But he still need to consider the possibilities.

He narrowed his eyes in determination. He needed to at least try. He needed to bring the idea up with her. He couldn’t let her stand there, watching him in confusion, for so long. Slowly, he turned his head over towards her, staring at her intently. “...do you think we could get an x-ray on this thing?”

Penny blinked a few times. “An x-ray...?”

“Yeah, you know...” Mint pointed his finger at the wall. “To see what’s on the other side of this.”

“Well, I...” Penny paused and shook her head. “Yes it is possible. “But...why?”

Mint gave a small smile at this. “Because we are going to create our own path around.”

sss

How long has it been since he had been trapped in here? How long ago had he been tossed into this kennel again? How long had he just been laying here? Time seemed to be all muddled up and he was unable to really think much of what he could do.

He couldn’t even try to crawl away in case Sandra came back. That tumor that she had put into his back, she never removed it. He was not sure if she would keep it in there forever, or if she was only going to keep in there for the time being. He guessed that she only kept it in to keep him from escaping like last time. Not that Sandra had anything to worry about; this time, Skrawl was not coming back for him.

Snap wasn’t really sure what happened to Skrawl other than he was likely recaptured. Skrawl might be his enemy, but a part of him did feel sorry for Skrawl. He knew what Sandra was like and the potentiality of what she’d do. Skrawl did not see just how far Sandra was willing to go. If he was lucky, she would let him off with a ‘warning’. Chances are, it would still be painful, but at least he couldn’t experience the full extent of Sandra’s wrath.

Though he was honestly more worried about his friends. What did Sandra do to them? What did she plan on doing to them? He was only aware that they had arrived to try to save him...but he didn’t know if they succeeded or not. It’s been quite some time without any word from anyone. He hoped he would be informed soon. Not knowing was driving him crazy.

If only his legs were working, he could try to get out again. Hearing that his friends were here did give him a boost of confidence and a renewed will to fight back. If he could just stand up and head to the bars, maybe he could reach that latch after all. Maybe he could use it as a means of getting out of here...

But who was he kidding? There was just no way that he would be able to get out like this. There was no way that he could escape this place as he was. Without his legs, he’d just be a sitting duck.

The thought of his legs caused his mind to drift to thinking about Rudy. He could feel his heart skipping several beats and he took in a few deep, slow breaths in an attempt to keep himself calm. Not like it worked for long; his heart twisted and burned at the thought of what had happened to Rudy.

Was this what it felt like for him? Was this what Rudy went through every single day? This feeling of hopelessness and frustration and devastation...was this how Rudy saw things at times? How often did he feel like this? How often did he fall into despair? How often did he just punch a wall or the chair’s arm and scream?

Snap knew full well that he could not know the full extend of how Rudy felt. He hadn’t lost his legs for that long. Rudy’s had to live without them for five years. He just...couldn’t fathom what it felt like in all that time...to be unable to feel or move his legs... Oh gawd, poor Rudy...

His hatred for Sandra burned brighter and hotter now more than ever before. He could feel his body shaking, his teeth gritting against each other. He could feel his hands forming into tight fists. For the next several moments, he did not feel an ounce of fear towards Sandra. He only felt hatred and he strong desire to teach her a lesson. How dare she hurt his friend like this... How dare she strip him of his freedom... Why he outta...

Suddenly he heard footsteps coming his way. His whole body stiffened and he swung his head over in the direction of the sound. Upon seeing the shadow upon the wall, he immediately lost his brave facade. His facial expression contorted into fear and horror when he saw Sandra’s face peaking in, pausing to look over him with that sadistic grin of hers. Snap could not bring himself to even speak out against her; he could only look away from her.

Sandra began to move into the room slowly. She hadn’t bothered to say anything. He was glad for that. He didn’t really have much he wanted to say to her right now. He didn’t even want to look at her. A part of him hoped that, if he didn’t pay her any heed, she would turn and walk away.

He wasn’t so lucky. He could soon hear her tapping claws up near the kennel. He could almost feel Sandra’s warm breath hitting against him. He still struggled not to look even then. He could feel Sandra’s shadow casting over him and he could feel those eyes boring into him. Nope, even then, he remained utterly silent. If Sandra was hoping for a response, she was not going to get one out of him. He was going to make sure that he didn’t...

Suddenly, he felt a hand against his face. As soon as he did, he nearly jumped to his feet...if they worked that is. His skin immediately crawled about, rippling through. She forced herself to look over at Sandra, causing a wary white eye upon her. He bared his teeth nervously, watching with a cautious eye as the hand stroked him back and forth.

“How are you feeling right now, Snacks?” Sandra asked in a soft voice. Snap did not answer her. She merely shrugged at this. “I can see you are doing a little better. Are you getting the hang of this?” She tilted her head to one side. “You enjoying your time with me?”

Snap hissed at this, jerking himself away from her.

Sandra gave a couple quick chuckles. “Of course you would react like that my little Snacks. You still need some time adjusting. Oh...” She clasped her fingers together and raised it up, pressing it against her cheek as she leaned into it. “You are so cute and adorable. I do hope that I won’t have to do anything to ruin your pretty face.”

“Sh-Shut up...” Snap managed to say to her.

Sandra ignored his statement as opened up the cage door and walked in. She pushed the door away, closing the gap that was briefly available. Not that Snap could have used it; with no legs, he’d have to crawl and Sandra would catch him in seconds. He laid there, pressing his stomach against the floor, as Sandra moved towards him.

It took her only a second to reach him, with how close he had been to the door. She knelt herself down next to him and she reached out to touch him just like before. Snap bared his teeth and growled at her, a mixture of emotions, including fear, filling up inside of his voice. But this did not stop Sandra from starting to stroke him. He flinched, stiffened, and whimpered as Sandra gently caressed him along his head and along his back, stopping just short of where she had placed the tumor.

“Oh don’t worry, my little darling...” Sandra cooed to him. “I won’t be long. I just want to know one thing...” She applied a little more pressure to her caressing. It was just enough to make him feel uncomfortable, but still light that it didn’t actually hurt him. “Did you put any more thought into what I said before? Regarding promises...?”

Snap jerked his head back and growled at her, this time louder and more fiercely. “You bitch... Why the hell would I ever agree to something like that...?” Sandra just stared at him as she kept stroking him. “You keep trying over and over again to get me to see your side of things and I just don’t! Okay? I just don’t!”

“I see...” Sandra moved her hand away. She did not move from her spot, doing nothing more but move her tail over and curling it against herself. “Even after I generously informed you, tried to enlighten you...”

Snap glared back at her. “Nothing justifies your actions...” He cringed away from her the best that he could. “You are the one who had been killing zoners to feed to others! You are the one who nearly killed my best friend because of some stupid promise!”

Sandra’s ears raised up slightly as she growled. “...stupid promise..?” Snap gulped upon realizing that he had just made a mistake. Sandra leaned her head in forward, her blazing red eyes glaring directly at him. “Is that what you think? They’re just ‘stupid’..? How dare you...I...”

Snap shut his eyes and looked away quickly, his teeth gritted firmly. He raised his hands up in self defense. He didn’t attempt to say or do anything. He just kept himself looking away from her, shivering, waiting for her to go on a rampage like the last time he had insulted her ‘promise sanctity’ five years ago.

To his surprise, however, Sandra just started to...laugh. Perplexed, the small blue and white zoner looked over and stared at Sandra. He watched as her shoulders shook with each laughter, a hand over her face and looking as if she had heard the funniest joke ever. This only served to make him feel even more confused.

“Wh-What’s so funny....?” Snap managed to say.

Sandra continued to chuckle for several more moments before pulling her head back, staring up at the ceiling. Her teeth were bared in a grin, her red eyes looking up and yet nowhere at the same time. She stayed like this for a short time before she finally turned her pupils in his direction. “Oh dear little Snap... I just feel as though I finally figured out a way for you to understand...”

Snap leaned away from her a little further. “What did you..have in mind...?”

Sandra grinned. “Something simple. Something that will get you to see things my way. And don’t worry...” She paused as she stared at him, as though to build up a little bit of tension. “It’s not going to hurt... So you won’t go through what your little friend had to...”

Snap widened his eyes at this. “Rudy...?” He gritted his teeth as he raised a fist up into the air. “What the fuck have you done to him?!”

Sandra just laughed at this, causing Snap to growl once more. She had her hand placed against herself, looking fully amused by his anger. “You need not worry about him! He is....fine.” Snap flinched at the way she had spoken that word. “Now why don’t you say we get started shall we..?”

Snap wanted to demand Sandra to tell him what she did to Rudy. He wanted to know just what she had put his best friend through. But he could not bring himself to say those words. A part of it was out of fear. What if she threatened to do something worse to him? In his state, he couldn’t try to stop her.

So reluctantly, he asked, “And just what did you have in mind?”

Sandra held her hand up in gesture. “It’s quite simple really. All I am goingo to do is...ask questions.”

Snap stared at her in confusion. “...ask questions?” Sandra nodded her head. “That’s it? That’s your big plan? That’s what’s going to make me side with you...?”

Sandra gave a series of small chuckles. “I can see you are such a doubter. But don’t you worry...” She raised her hand up, motioning slighlty towards him. “I know what I am doing. I can promise you, Snap, by the end of this, you may start seeing things in a...whole new light...”

Snap rolled his eyes at this. He was almost disappointed that Sandra had gone down this route. It was just way too easy. What in the world made her think that he would ever consider listening to her? What made her think that if she asked a few questions, it would automatically make him believe in her words? She would have to be really crazy to believe that. Well, she already was crazy to begin with.

But there was no way out of it. He had a strong feeling that, even if he did struggle against her, she was still going to try asking him those questions. And if he didn’t answer, she would slug him or something, and that was if he was very lucky. He let out a sigh. He didn’t have much of a choice other than to listen to her, did he?

“Okay then...” He decided to just amuse her. Besides, answering a few questions was pretty easy compared to what she could be doing. “What did you want to ask me?”

“Listen carefully...” Sandra began. She gave pause, watching Snap as though to make sure that he was paying attention. “I’m going to ask you one major thing for now. And I want you to think really hard on it. You do not need to answer right away.” She raised her hand up and she pointed in his direction. “Has anyone ever promised you help you out with something?”

Snap blinked at this. He couldn’t help but shake his head. He still didn’t know where Sandra was going to go with this. But he decided to play a long still. “Well of course. I’ve had it happen to me several times.”

Snap nodded her head slowly. She didn’t look at all surprised. She probably expected this sort of answer. “I see...” She interlocked her fingers as she turned her head to the side, one red eye staring right at him. “And..have they fulfilled those promises...?”

“Of course they...”

Snap suddenly froze. He stared off into the distance, his mouth partially open as his jaw moved up and down slowly. It looked as though he was trying to speak yet was unable to form words. All the while, Sandra just watched him, remaining completely quiet herself as she watched for him to respond.

Snap was trying to hard to remember at least one time someone had actually helped him out. He tried to dig deep into his memory. His mind was aching and he couldn’t help but flinch. He continued to struggle to remember something...anything.... Yet the only thing he accomplished was his mind heating up quickly, and he was honestly surprised when there was no hole that was burned through his head.

This couldn’t be right. He...He knew for certain that most of the time, people had remembered their promises and helped him out. He understood if sometimes this was not the case. But...oh, why wasn’t he remembering anything? It was as though his mind had gone blank, hitting against a hard stone and being unable to get any further.

He continued searching his memory bank, sifting through whatever he could. But no matter how hard he tried, no matter how deep he dug, he just could not remember anything. The only thing that he was able to remember are the excuses they all brought up to not fulfill their promise to him. Every single one of them...

Snap shook his head left to right. He didn’t want to think that was the case. He wanted to believe that he had at least one person keep their promise. This...This couldn’t be right... This isn’t how things had gone down... And yet every single fucking time he thought of an incident, it had ended the same way: they broke the promise ultimately even if it was something of dire importance.

But it was impossible... There had to be something... Anything... Snap didn’t speak for the next several moments as he gripped onto his head and struggled to remember. He fought against the severe headache that spread throughout his head, conitnuing to do whatever he could to remember.

sss

Sandra watched the scene play out before her. She could feel her mouth corners stretching back into a sadistic grin. She twitched her tail from side to side. She didn’t speak a word as she watched Snap struggling to remember something. She could not help but grin. This was working out better than she had expected.

After she had her fun with Rudy, she had been on her way here to see Snap when an idea had struck her. She was still determined to make both him and Rudy see her side of things. And simply telling them the truth did not seem to work.

So...what if she tried something a little...different? Sure, it was sneaky and dishonest. But she had to make them see the reality about promises. She had to make them understand where she was coming from. And if that meant a little bit of lying, then so be it. At least they could finally understand what she had been trying to tell them all along. It mattered not if she fibbed or anything. Not like they were going anywhere anytime soon.

She was pretty good at manipulating memory to a degree. She had done this with Snap in the past. So she had thought to herself...why not do that again? But this time, she’d be a little more careful. She would instead carefully place a few well positioned tumors, affecting his memoy in a different way than before. For this time, she was not trying to make him forget a single moment in time; she instead had something much more specific in mind.

And seeing how Snap was clearly struggling, looking like he was in a lot of distress, she could tell that it was working. There was no doubt about it. Her tumor placing was preventing Snap from remembering if any of those zoners had fulfilled their promise or not. Instead, he was being bombarded with various memories of promise breaking. Exactly the nature was up to what Snap’s brain had come up with. False memory creation and all that. But it was still working in the end.

At this point, Snap’s body was shaking and his eyes were wide. He was not scared or anything. But he did look so desperate, so confused... He was breathing in and out quickly as he tried to keep his spinning mind under control. He soon looked up at her, his eyes flickering with...something that she could not quite recognize.

All Sandra did was just smile at him. She wanted to give him a little more time to dwell on this. She wanted to let him have some time thinking about what he had ‘discovered’ inside of his mind. She wanted him to have some kind of understanding of the seriousness of the situation. She knew it would take him a little while before the reality would sink in deeply.

Did she expect him to turn so quickly? Did she expected him to suddenly agree with her and her ways?

Ideally, that would be great. But she was fully aware that this may not be the case with him. He might not listen to her so soon. He would be more open in comparison to the past. But he would still require a little more...training.

She waited for a few more moments before she attempted to speak to him. Taking a small step towards him, keeping her eyes locked with him, she delivered the tentative question.

“Well? What do you have to say now, Snappy boy...?”

“I-I...well I...” Snap turned his head to the side, staring at nothingness. He struggled to speak, to say anything. But it was clear that nothing was showing up in his head. She could see the frustration clearly written all over his face. Eventually he seemed to give up, sighing, before turning his head just enough to give her a sideways glance. “I’m...I’m still not really sure. I mean...”

Sandra frowned slightly at this. “Oh? Why not?” She turned her head downward and slightly to the side. “Did you think of any time where one of your so-called friends fulfilled a promise?”

“Well no, but..” Snap gritted his teeth nervously, breathing in sharply through them. “I just don’t feel like...” He paused, flinching a little as though he didn’t feel he worded that right. So he tried again. After a bit of stammering, he managed to say, “Regardless, I still don’t... I am still not sure if I can...”

“Oh I see...” Sandra faked a look of sympathy. “You’re just distraught. Unsure.” She gave a soft smile before she reached over and grabbed onto his shoulder. “It is all right. Everything will fall into place soon.”

Snap didn’t really bother to reply to that. His head was still bowed as he stared at the ground. She didn’t expect anything less out of him. It was still too early. But at least she planted the seeds of doubt. Now all she had to do was be patient. Soon enough, this would all pay off. She just had to play her cards right.

“Now why don’t you get a little rest?” Sandra moved away from him and she began to head towards the door. She didn’t bother looking back at him. “I’m sure you could use a little sleep after...that. I will be back later with something for you to eat.”

With that, she exited the kennel, locking it up behind her, and made her way towards the door. Though a part of her wished that things had been more eventful, it still had went better than she could have expected. She just needed to remain patient and soon, so very soon, she would have exactly what she wanted.

After all, patience was a virtue, right?


	37. Driving The Point Home

Wake up! Wake up from the lie! Are you ready to believe...?  
-Believe, Living Syndication

sss

Why was it so dark in here? Why did it feel as though he hadn’t slept in ages? Why did his whole body hurt? Why did he feel so stiff? These and other questions clamored the mind of the jellybean as he opened up his eyes.

The first thing he noticed as the lack of vision. He blinked his eyes slowly, trying to clear up his vision, but it didn’t work. No matter which way he turned his head, no matter which way that he looked, there was just...nothing there. A complete blank. He could feel his mind spinning, becoming so confused and uncertain. What was he supposed to make out of this? Just...where was he?

Skrawl attempted to sit up. Maybe if he got up and walked around for a bit, he’d be able to clear his fuzzy, drowsy mind and figure out where he was. And stretching his limbs would definitely be a very good idea. He could feel just how achy and sore that they were.

But when he tried to move, he realized that...he could not. He froze for a moment, blinking his eyes a few times. He didn’t feel afraid exactly; only confused. Why could he not move? That didn’t make any sense whatsoever. He looked back down at himself, though still could see nothing. He tried again, this time using a bit more of his energy. But the result remained exactly the same. No dice.

He couldn’t figure out why he wasn’t moving. He wasn’t that tired. He could still feel his limbs. It wasn’t like he had some kind of horrible accident or something. At least, he did not remember such a thing happening to him. So...just what was going on here?

When he tried again, this time he was able to feel something different. He was not really sure why he felt nothing before. Maybe it was because he wasn’t pulling hard enough. He could feel his arm hitting against something solid and cold. He immediately froze at this realization.

Solid and cold? Was he...?

Skrawl attempted to yank himself once more. He pulled as hard as he could, test out to see if there was anything there or if he was just imagining it. After a few times, he could safely conclude that, yes, there was indeed something there. Something that was preventing him from moving his arms up. And if it was old and hard, he had a good idea of what it was.

But how did he get strapped down by these metal cuffs? How did he even end up here? And what was he on? He shifted himself a little to try to get a good feel for his general location. He could feel a couple other cold bands, at least two of him holding down his body. He couldn’t tell what kind of surface that he was on, but he guessed it was a large piece of wood or something.

His heart quickened for a few moments. The realization that he had been tied down was quite a shock to his system. He quickly managed to calm himself down and he tried to think about the situation rationally. With his racing, burning mind, he tried to think of what could have happened to bring him to this point.

Had he been captured? Well, that was a stupid question. He’d kick himself if he could. Of course he was captured. The question was by whom and when. He didn’t know if it was recent or if he had been knocked out for a long while. He also didn’t know exactly who could have taken him. Had it been Sandra or an unknown enemy? He guessed Sandra, but the idea of a third player being involved...

Skrawl soon could feel something on his face. Soft and kinda thin and... Oh so this was why he couldn’t see. So he wasn’t actually blind after all. Well that was good. Skrawl felt a tinge of relief that. He had been worried that something had been done to his eyes.

Not that it made his situation that much better, though. He still needed to figure out exactly how he was going to get out of this mess. He couldn’t see where he was and he couldn’t move. He had no idea if he was back in his holding chamber or if he had been taken somewhere else entirely. He only thing he did know for certain was that he was alone. He could not hear anyone nearby.

But it sure did smell differently in here. He wondered if he had been taken to a different part of the castle. Funny...none of the castle really smelled like this. The castle had a stoney damp smell. But this...it was a mixture...something. Different chemicals, an almost plasticy smell, and...

...death.

Skrawl could feel his blood run cold at this. Freezing, he took a few more sniffs just to make sure. He hoped he had thought about it wrong....but this was not the case. The smell around him was definitely the scent of death. That rotting smell that corpses give off...

Skrawl, in a brief, adrenaline-packed rush of horror, attempted to struggle against his binds. He let out a few small cries as he jerked himself from side to side, struggling to do whatever he could to escape. He yanked at his limbs as hard as he could. He pushed himself against the metal bands, trying to do whatever he could to escape.

But he rapidly depleted his energy. He soon laid there, panting heavily as he struggled to catch his breath. His tongue practically hung out at his side as he tried to calm his racing heart.

And all the while, the scent of death entered his nostrils, refusing to let him go. He was forced to smell it, even taste it on his own tongue. And his antenna, or what remained anyway, could detect the scent now that he had noticed it. He gritted his teeth and struggled to cope with it. He tried not to throw up. It was a little difficult, and he did gag a couple of times. But eventually, he was able to control himself.

As soon as he managed to calm himself down, he tried to figure out just how he could have gotten into this situation. He remained still and tried to search through his mind the best that he could. There had to be a logical explaination to all of this. Something that told him exactly what was going on around here.

But for a while, he found nothing. Just more blanks and more confusion. He was not getting any closer to discovering the truth. He didn’t want to give up, though. Maybe if he kept thinking hard enough, he would discover something...

Then it came to him. It was fuzzy and blurry in his mind and he could not remember all the details yet. But he could vaguely remember being chased down the hallway. He could see someone....no, a group of people coming after him. People that could fly. And they looked almost human. Like...

His heart wrenched at the thought. Had he.. Had he been chased by his own Beanie Boys...?

Yes, he had. Now he remembered that part. He had been trying to get away from them. They had found him and they had chased him. They did not stop, even when he had pleaded with them. And why did they do that? He imagined it was because they were terrified of Sandra and what she might do if they did not listen to her.

Skrawl gritted his teeth and let out a low growl. Of course Sandra would be responsible for all of this. She seemed just like the type who would do something like this. And now he was trapped somewhere he didn’t know, and he had his doubts he’d get out of here anytime soon.

Great...

Just fucking great.

He was about to try to think of something else, but then his thoughts were interrupted when he heard a tapping sound coming towards him. He whipped his head over, struggling to see just who was coming, as if he really needed to ask. Of course, with this blindfold on, he could see nothing. But his ears could detect something with claws getting closer and closer...

“Ah, it seems that you are awake...”

Skrawl could feel a small shudder as he heard the familiar voice that belonged to Sandra. He licked his lips slowly, remaining silent. Of course she would have something to do with this.

“I was worried. I thought that I had accidentally damaged you too much. It would have been a shame for you to die so soon... Especially since I have more use out of you than that.”

Skrawl could feel a wave of confusion strike him at this. Use? She had a ‘use’ for him? Just what kind of use did she have in mind? What did she plan on doing with him? He wasn’t really sure if he should expect an answer out of her. She would probably just pretend not to hear him, or give him some kind of stupid answer or something.

So instead, he just continued to lay there, listening intently to what she had to say. Maybe if he kept quiet, she would reveal just what she had in mind for him.

Soon he could hear Sandra start to pace back and forth. He could almost see her through the blind fold as she moved about. “I cannot stay long unfortunately. I’m only here for a brief visit. I have another duty to...attend to pretty soon.” She gave a small chuckle. “I’m sure you understand that, potato bug.”

Skrawl found himself growling at that. “My name is Skrawl, you blue turd...”

“Oh whatever. Not like it’ll matter much to you soon anyway.” Sandra commented. “I have something special in mind for you. And a short amount of time, your name will no longer really matter.”

Skrawl tried not to allow his fear get a strong hold of him. He tried to keep himself as calm as possible. Sandra was just trying to psyche him out. He could not allow that to happen. He kept glaring at her, or at least in the general direction that he had heard her in, and hissed, making sure that his teeth were bared.

“Yes, sure, go ahead and make that face. You do look kind of pretty like that anyway.” Skrawl felt a brief rush of nausea and horror at that as he remembered what this monster did to him. But he still managed to keep glaring in her direction despite that. Sandra only seemed to be more amused. “Such a brave little jellybean you are being... I do hope that you will remain brave when he time comes. Heheheh...you are going to need it...”

Skrawl felt a pang of horror at the tone of Sandra’s voice. He had no idea what any of this entailed and he could not shake off the feeling of terror clawing its way inside of him. The feeling of not knowing what was going to happen...

But he still refused to let himself show too much fear. Despite his worry of what might happen, he still remained as still as possible. There were still a few trembles here or there, but he still tried to remain as motionless as he could, glaring and growling, trying to be as brave as he could. He did not want to allow Sandra to have any kind of satisfaction of terrifying him. Not after what she had done to him.

But just what did she have in mind for him? What did she plan to do with him? There were so many possibilities... and yet he could not think of one that made any sense. He could feel his heart burning inside his chest as he struggled to think of...something. But he knew that there was only one way to find out what Sandra had in mind for him.

Wait.

sss

Sandra didn’t really bother saying anything as she returned to the room where Snap was. And he did not bother looking up at her; he knew that she was there. She could tell from the slight shift in his behavior. Not that it really mattered. She just proceeded into the room as if this was a normal, casual day. And in her hands, she held something that she knew would catch Snap’s interest.

Food.

She had been a little delayed in getting back here. She had wanted to double check on Skrawl, whom she had very recently secured in her other hideout not too far from here. She wanted to make sure that he remained ‘safe and sound’ so to speak so that she would be able to use later on.

After that, she had returned here and rummaged through her food storage in order to find something for Snap to eat. The only thing that she had with her was meat. But that would do just fine. There was plenty of meat from that stupid condor, whom she recently learned had been Penny’s creation. Yes, this meat would do just fine...

She had to cook the meat pieces first, of course. She didn’t really think that Snap could handle the raw meat. He did not look like the type of zoner who would appreciate being given raw meat. After it was done, she placed them in a small bag which she held in her hand at this very moment. She also carried a small water bottle, as she had a feeling that he might be parched. With both items in hand, she made her way towards the kennel that still held that small blue and white zoner.

As she approached, one thought did come across her mind. What was she going to do about food for Rudy? If she was going to keep him around for a while, wouldn’t she need to make sure that he had something to eat and drink too? She realized that she probably should have thought ahead with that. At the moment there was very little that she could do.

Hmm...well she could always figure out something eventually. Like perhaps blackmail the other two humans into helping her keeping him alive. That might be her best option for the time being.

But for now, it was feeding time for Snap. Even if he did not want to eat, even if he refused, it wasn’t like he had mch of an option. This was his only chance for the next couple days that he was going get something. She planned on keeping him a dehydrated, starved mode. Such a mode would make him more desperate, more willing to do whatever it took to be fed. In other words, he would become more suggestable.

So long as she didn’t overdo it, of course. She could not get Snap interested in eating her. That would defeat the whole purpose of this. As much as it would please her if Snap did enjoy her taste, it was just not practical for this plan to work.

“Here there, little sweetheart.” Sandra called out. She barely got a movement out of Snap’s head. “Time to eat! You must be starving!”

She did notice how Snap did look up at her with some interest. But his expression was partially dull and he didn’t bother to respond. He just...looked at her, barely blinking his eyes, before looking away. It was as if something was on his mind, and he was only partially there.

Not that this surprised her too much. He must still be thinking of what happened earlier, when she had been interrogating him. He looked...lost and confused and uncertain. He was likely trying to recall his memories, trying to find something to ‘prove him right’. She tried not to chuckle at this. Of course he would try to figure something out. That would be just like him. Even when he must know that he was wrong, he just wouldn’t admit defeat.

She didn’t dwell on that long, however. She made her way into his cage, taking care to push the door behind her as much as she could. As soon as she was in, she made her way towards him, still cradling the food in her arms.

“Come on now...” Sandra said as she moved closer to Snap. “Be steady and don’t fight. I’m just going to feed you.”

Snap growled at this and cringed away from her. Though he did not make much of an effort to get away. And as Sandra moved in closer, Snap just pressed himself lower against the ground, flattening himself as much as he could. Despite his growls, he did not attempt to bite her, not even when she looped an arm around him and pulled him towards her.

Soon Snap was forced to sit on her lap. She kept him cradled there, keeping her arm locked around him and holding him firmly in place. She then reached for the items she had set on the ground and lifted one of them up. She decided to start with a little bit of water first. With some effort, she was able to open it and she brought it down towards Snap.

“Open your mouth.” Sandra commanded.

Snap hissed and looked away from her. He pressed his lips together tightly, stubbornly refusing to comply.

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. She lowered the bottle of water to him and pressed it against his lips. She could feel just how hard they were, how immobile they were and how she was unable to push the bottle in much further. She gritted her teeth at this, glaring down at the stubborn little blue zoner.

Of course he would be so stubborn... Snap was still attempting to fight back despite his fear. Well, she shouldn’t be too surprised about that. Both he and Rudy still needed some more... ‘being broken into’, sort of speak. They needed some more time, but no matter. Sooner or later, they would both see things her way and they would both break under her will. She just needed a little bit more time.

She would see to it that Snap was the first of the two to break.

She didn’t care if Snap was being stubborn or not. She was going to ensure that she’d get this bottle into his mouth. She just kept pushing harder and harder, trying to work the bottle’s tip under his lips. Snap would move his head away, and she would follow in turn.

Eventually, her efforts did finally pay off and she was able to force Snap to except he intrusion. The zoner’s eyes widened, feeling a bit of pain from her forcefulness, and he opened up his mouth if only just so that he didn’t have to feel that pain anymore. He casted a glare in her direction before he, very reluctantly, began to drink.

After she felt that he had enough to drink, she took a piece of condor meat and brought it over to him. It had been cooked before she brought it out here, so he didn’t have to worry about getting sick. She lowered the strip of bird meat towards Snap’s face. Not at all to her surprise, he just closed his mouth and looked away.

Sandra let out a soft groan. Why did Snap have to make this so difficult? She knew that he was hungry and she was not interested in having him starve to death under her watch. So he was better off just accepting the meat and stop being so stubborn about it. But if this was the way he wanted to play it, fine. She could ‘return the favor’. With a grin spreading across her face, she suddenly drove one of her spikes on her tail against his shoulder.

The sudden blow caused Snap’s eyes to widen and he let out a scream of pain. As soon as he opened up his mouth, Sandra shoved the cooked condor meat into his mouth. Snap gasped at this and his body stiffened up. Sandra held his mouth shut, forcing him to chew and them swallow the meat. She released him a few seconds after he had swallowed. He gagged and coughed a few times before looking up at her in utter shock. Sandra only smirked back at him and continued.

She continued to feed him and made him drink more of the water she had brought. She refused to stop, refused to let him rest. Any time he tried to be stubborn, she just caused him enough pain to make him cry out, and then use that to her advantage.

And eventually, it was all gone. She managed to make him drink all the water and eat all the meat that she had brought over for him. She cradled him against her almost like he was a little baby, patting him on the head, mocking a proud parent. Even the smile that she was giving him reflected what a parent would give to their child.

“There...that wasn’t so bad, now was it..?” Sandra cooed to the humanoid zoner. Snap growled and bared his teeth, but did nothing else. Sandra chuckled and scratched his chin like he were a cat. “Oh you stubborn little boy...”

“P-Put me down...” Snap spoke through clenched teeth. He pushed against her, struggling to free himself. “Let me g-g-go this instant!”

Sandra responded by holding him more firmly. She brought him against herself, rubbing her head against his cheek. “Why should I? You’re just too adorable...” She gave him a quick lick along his cheek. He let out a yelp at this. “Oh you don’t have to be so frightened, sweetheart. I won’t hurt you...”

She bit down on his shoulder for a split second. Not too hard. Just enough to give him a brief feeling of pain, enough to make him yelp loudly. She pulled her head back, smiling into Snap’s widened eyes.

“Much.”

Snap’s previous bravado had faded away at this point. It was as though Sandra’s quick nip reminded him of the situation that he was in and just how helpless he was. He shrunk back from her and attempted to twist his body around. He pushed against her even harder and more desperately than before. He tried to claw at the ground, struck against her, anything to give him a chance to get away.

But of course, it was all fruitless. Sandra was hardly faced by his struggles. A simple tightening of her muscles was all that it took to prevent him from escaping. She just watched him as he jerked himself from side to side. Without those pesky legs of his, Snap’s efforts were just lacklaster by comparison now. But it was still pretty entertaining to watch. She let him struggle until he started to wear himself out.

But soon, it was time to get down to business. Sandra did not want to waste too much of her time just toying with him like this. She had come down here for a reason. And she was not going to leave until she got exactly what she wanted.

She might have sown the seeds of doubt in him. But that didn’t mean that they would bloom that easily. She needed to pressure him further. She needed to get him to really think about it. She needed to make sure that he would actually start to see her point. She needed to keep pressing things further, ensuring that he would eventually start to break.

And so she began.

“So..Snap...” Sandra got herself more comfortable, keeping Snap secured in her blue, feathery arms. “About our previous...topic.” She tilted her head to one side. “Did you start thinking of anyone yet? Any person who kept their promise? I know you’ve been trying to think of something.”

Snap opened his mouth to speak, but soon shut it and looked down. Sandra could see how his eyes were narrowing, not out of anger, but out of determination. He licked his lips nervously as he struggled to think of something, anything, to tell her. She could practically see his mind’s gears turning, the scent of smoke being generated from it, and it looked positively adorable.

And of course, she was not surprised when he remained silent. She was not sure yet if she had been thorough. But so far, she seemed to have been. She remained on stand by just in case, just watching Snap’s expressions, looking for any point when she felt she should be taking action.

Eventually, it looked as if it was time. Snap’s eyes had widened and he looked as if he was going to say something. His facial expression appeared to hold a bit of hope. She tried not to make a facial expression change at this; she did not want him to catch on that she had been doing anything. So she just stared at him, only making a very slight turn of her hand as she took action, drilling into his mind and crushing whatever hope he had started to latch onto. Seeing his facial expression falter so quickly as quite the sight to behold.

Snap had attempted to try again. He was such a stubborn little zoner, wasn’t he? Not that she complained. It was a simple matter of just entering the right number of tumors in the right place to block those memories that he was clearly trying to access. Sandra couldn’t stop her smile from spreading. This ‘game’ was pretty fun, really.

All the while, she was petting him. With one arm keeping him secure, she used her other hand to stroke along his body, mostly on his head and along his cheek, though she did rub his arm a little. Despite Snap’s struggling and discomfort, she kept this action up, continuing to pet him like he was just a little puppy dog to her. It was a way for her to establish control, showing him that she was the one who controlled his situation, not him himself. She did go roughly once in a while, reminding him that she could easily hurt him at any given moment. This kept him on edge and it was clearly having some kind of effect on him as he was still searching through his mind.

Sandra was not really sure how long this lasted. A good while, she would imagine. Snap just refused to give up, refused to put down the towel so easily. He was absolutely determined to prove her wrong in this and try to find some redeeming quality of the zoners had promised to help him.

But he seemed to be weakening now. He was starting to look more and more defeated as he could not recall a single time when someone had been willing to keep their promise. He did start recalling a few new ones, but she had quickly squashed those, as if it was just a fragile pebble in her hands. Snap took in several deep breaths, a few of them getting quite shaky, before he eventually hung his head.

“I...can’t think of anyone. I-I thought for sure...” He couldn’t finish his sentence.

Sandra gave him the best sympathetic look that she could muster. “Oh you poor little thing...”

Snap narrowed his eyes at her, baring his teeth. “Now I never said..”

“Oh but you can’t think of anything, can you...?” Sandra reached down and cupped his chin. She stared at him intently with eyes shining with fake sympathy. She carefully stroked his chin from side to side. “You have many friends, don’t you? I know you are...quite well known in ChalkZone City. There is...” She moved her head to the side again. “...no one who fulfilled their promise to you..?”

Snap appeared to struggle a little more. He gritted his teeth tightly, seething, trying to come up with something. But in the end, he only drew a blank, evidenced by his wide-eyed and open mouth expression. He then shook his head and turned his head partially away from her. “That means nothing... It wasn’t like I really needed help that badly. Rudy, Penny, and Mint were always willing to help anyway when I asked it of them.”

“Oh really now? Isn’t that interesting...” Sandra moved her hand up along Snap’s head, moving along his cheek and then rubbing the top of his head back and forth. “So it would seem they care something for you...”

“They are my friends...” Snap hissed under his breath, using a tone that suggested that he thought that she would know this.

Sandra just ignored it as she continued with, “Still...those others ignoring you like that? For shame...”

Snap growled at this. “They...didn’t ignore me!”

Sandra took immediate notice of the faulter in his voice. She gave a small smile at this, lowering one quizitive eye at him. “Oh is that so? You are..entirely sure...?” Sandra grabbed onto Snap’s chin and forced him to look up at her when he tried to look away. “Are you positive that they didn’t ignore your pleas for help?”

Snap gave her a confused look. “What are you talking about? I didn’t need...”

“Oh come now, Snap. I’m sure there was...something.” Sandra cooed at him gently. She loosened her grip as she stroked along his cheek, pulling his head a little closer towards her. “Wasn’t there at least one time when you needed help, something of grave importance, and those so-called friends of yours abandoned you in your time of need? I’m sure, with all those promise breakers in ChalkZone City, you ran into at least one of them at some point...”

“I...no..I...”

“Are you sure? Did you think about it? Did you really, really think about it...?”

Sandra watched with a blank, serious expression as Snap tried to think of something. She monitored him carefully just in case, although she had already been so thorough that she didn’t really have to lift a finger this time. Snap’s eyes widened further the more he tried to think of something to combat her statement. But of course, he was figuring out nothing.

Not that she was surprised. Of course he wouldn’t find anything. Because she wasn’t letting him. She tried not to smirk as she watched Snap’s facial expression change, his eyes darting back and forth, his body giving off a slight shiver, likely from the horrific realization that she was speaking more truth to him than he wanted to accept. Snap licked his lips nervously, his teeth slightly exposed as he breathed heavily. He kept trying to think of something, but it was clear that he was faltering rapidly.

“I-I...I...” Snap spoke for the first time in several minutes. Sandra watched him patiently as he stammered and stuttered through his words. “Th-That is to say...I...”

Sandra merely smirked, giving him a knowing smile. “You can’t think of anything...” She leaned in slightly. “...can you? So determined to prove me wrong, yet you can’t think of anything to defend your stance with. Tell me...” She tilted her head to one side. “How many times have you been let down? Those people knew that you needed help. Sometimes even serious, right? Yet they still let you down...”

Snap shook his head. “No..that’s not...no!” He shut his eyes tightly, baring his teeth furiously. “Y-You’re just trying to confuse me!” He started to shake harder. “I know what happened! I know that they did not...” His voice trailed off.

Sandra slowly shook her head. “Such denial.... You are just afraid of accepting the truth. You know as well as I do that no one in this world has ever kept their promise with you.” She wiped the smile off of her face as she stared at him with a stern expression. “Why do you keep trying to defend them? Shouldn’t your friends have helped you out when you needed it? You helped them out so much, right? Why didn’t they return the favor? Do they really not see you as...worthy enough?” Snap did not answer. He just kept his eyes closed and growled through his tightly clenched teeth. “Are you not good enough for their hospitality?”

There was another brief period of struggling. More trying to think that she was wrong and that there had to be something. Sandra rolled her eyes at this, and she garnered some amusement out of Snap’s pitiful attempts to prove her wrong. Unlike before, he did not come close to a victory. His mind had become barren of anything to back up his point, and now, judging from his expression, it was clear that he was really starting to think about those times when he did need help..but never got any.

Snap did try to answer Sandra. He did try to make some kind of comeback against her. But he’d only trail off and stammer, nothing coherent coming out of his mouth. He eventually looked away, his eyes moving side to side as he tried to come to terms with his thoughts. He took in several shaky breaths, and Sandra thought she could see the hint of tears in the corner of his eyes.

After what felt like several long, tedious minutes, Snap eventually just...gave out. His head lowered, his eyes staring out into nothingness. The next words that came out of his mouth were nothing short of expected. “Y-You’re right...” His voice croaked as he shut his eyes. Sandra was certain he let out a few small tears. “You’re absolutely right... None of them helped me... Not even when...” He could not finish his sentence.

“Poor little dear. Don’t worry...” Sandra pulled Snap closer to her, cradling his head with her hand. “I won’t let you down. You can trust me completely...” Sandra placed her hand against his head, putting her chin against him. She almost conceealed his vision this way, almost as if to shield his mind from his bad memories. “I promise...”

This time, Snap did not attempt to struggle against her. He did not twist nor did he turn. He just..laid there against her, his body mostly limp. Then, in what must have been a clearly desperate attempt to get some consolance, Snap leaned himself against her.


	38. Something Even Better

Change my attempt. Good intentions. Should I..? Could I..? Here we are with your obsession. Should I..? Could I..?  
-Wasteland, 10 Years

sss

Dr. Crobot wasn’t sure how long it had taken him to get here. Even riding on the back of Ripclaw, it seemed to take ages. And she was the fastest mode of transportation that he had. Not like Bicops was going to carry him; he was adament about staying in that cave system of his.

Well regardless, at least he was finally here now. He couldn’t begin to imagine just how hard his heart had pounded, or how many times it had beat since he started on his way. He thought it was going to claw its way out of his chest or something. It had been a miracle that he was able to remain standing at all. Or rather, sitting upright in this case.

Ripclaw hadn’t slowed down yet. They weren’t exactly in town yet, but he could see it up ahead. He knew they would only get there in a few moments. So as Ripclaw closed the gap rapidly, he clung onto her feathers tightly to ensure that he wouldn’t fall down or anything. And he thought about what Biclops had told him earlier.

He was utterly horrified by what he had learned earlier. The idea that he would have done such dreadful things... He couldn’t help but shudder at the very thought of it, his blood running cold. It was not something that he wanted to believe. But at the same time...did he really have that much of a choice? He never knew Biclops to lie and he sounded so...sincere, so truly horrified by what he himself had been telling him.

Could the Signal really be back? Could Sandra have somehow reactivated it? Or someone else? He couldn’t imagine anyone who would want to use such a horrible device. But...he wouldn’t be surprised if someone like that existed. He couldn’t help but gulp nervously as he remembered what happened the last time that this city had to deal with the Signal. To think that it was back yet again...

But that wasn’t the only thing on his mind. He had also been informed that he had been affected by it himself. Dr. Crobat didn’t want to believe it, but...why else would they have locked him up? In that moment, that whole situation had suddenly made a ton of sense. And that would explain why he was so confused of where he had been previously before he woke up, and didn’t know how he had gotten there. He had been a slave to the Signal, bound to its whim.

Biclops had told him what he knew happened, but he hadn’t witnessed much. No, he saw nothing actually. He had only been told what happened. So whatever he knew happened, it had been relayed to him by the creators, which he then relayed to him.

While he had a feeling that information was missing, Dr. Crobat was already pretty horrified by the very idea of what he could have done. He couldn’t imagine deliberately hurting his friend like that... He wondered how Dr. Gelcro had felt when he was strapped down like that. He wished he could see him again. He really wanted to apologize to him.

And the two humans as well. He had harmed Penny and Mint, didn’t he? Yes, he remembered Biclops mentioning that. They were probably mad at him, weren’t they? He didn’t think that they’d want to see him any time soon. And he wouldn’t blame them at all. Even if he could not control himself, he still felt responsible. He shouldn’t have been so weak-minded...

Regardless of his own feelings however, he knew he still had to warn the police department here about what had been going on. He had to get to the police building as quickly as possible and tell them what Sandra may have been up to. And either way, they all needed to know about the Signal’s return. It would be utterly cruel of him to not tell anyone about that. He’d never leave them hanging like that.

It had taken quite a while for him to convince Biclops to let him go. The giant was adamant about trying to keep the promise that he made Penny and Mint, about keeping him there and watching over him. It had been a personal request by Dr. Gelcro specifically.

He could feel his heart twist at this. Just by being here, he had forced Biclops to break a promise for his friend. And he felt as though that he was letting his friend down as a result. He couldn’t begin to imagine what Dr. Gelcro would think of him now. Would he feel betrayed? Hurt? Angry? Just the mere thought just...

Dr. Crobat was certain that he would understand at the very least. He..he had to understand to an extent, right? There was just no way that... He was his best friend. They had been through so much together. He would be understanding if he told him why he had left. What if Dr. Gelcro had forgot to tell everyone about this? He needed to...

Dr. Crobat’s eyes widened and he yanked on Ripclaw’s feathers, causing her to let out a small screech in response. Once she had come to a stop, the dog-like zoner began to look left and right as he surveyed the area. Something....wasn’t right here.

He was certainly in the city now. There was no doubt about it. He recognized this area. It was near one of the edges of town. He had just arrived here, and he and the green dinosaur had just exited out of the alleyway and were on the streeth. There was no doubt in his mind just where he was at this very moment in town.

It was the same area that had been rampaged by Mint back when he was the Enemy Creator. The memories still brought back cold shudders to him. He had been one of the victims. Thankfully he wasn’t badly hurt, but just being in this area made him feel uneasy. He could still see that darn sauropod dinosaur smashing the buildings around here.

Pushing those thoughts aside, he tried to focus on what was going on here. Confusion settled in his mind and he could feel himself licking his lips slowly. He turned his head side to side once more as he tried to figure out one thing: Just where was everyone?

He had never seen it this vacant before. Everyone was just...gone. There wasn’t a single zoner in the streets. It was as if everyone had just decided to skip town and go somewhere else. Is that what happened? Were they hiding? Just what was going on here...?

Despite his uneasiness, he did slowly, surely, make his way into town. Ripclaw took slow, steady steps. It seemed that she, too, was cautious about the suddenly empty city. She was quite intelligent, despite Mint designing her as ‘just an animal’. Sometimes he wondered what went on inside that mind of hers... But for now, he had other things he needed to focus on.

The two of them made their way towards the middle of the street and stopped there. With a gentle tug against her back, Dr. Crobat was able to get Ripclaw to rear herself back, raising her head up into the air, lowering her tail towards the ground as though her body was on a folcrum. Dr. Crobat was able to raise himself up as high as he could go and he tried to see if there was anything down any of these roads. It was a four-way intersection after all. Surely he’d see something.

But there was nothing. Even as far down as he could look, he still saw absolutely nothing. As far as the eye could see, there was just no one here at all. At least, no one on the streets. But what of the buildings?

Dr. Crobat looked around at the buildings in the vicinity. It was really hard to tell if they were abandoned or not. Perhaps he should consider rummaging through them. Perhaps he might find an answer to all of this mess. Maybe he’d be lucky and he would find a citizen who was hiding, or he would learn that this was just a horrible misunderstanding. Without hesitation, he set out.

He approached the first building. It was a tall white one. A building that was torn down by Mint’s long necked dinosaur and rebuilt a few years ago. A massive building where he knew several zoners would come in and commune together. He never did remember the name of this place. But that was not important.

Once he got close enough, he had Ripclaw stop a few feet away and jumped off. He looked up at the building, placing his wings on his hips. This seemed like a good building to start with. Out of all of them, this is the one he imagined would most likely have someone hiding in it. So without further hesitation, he entered the building.

It was well lit inside. It seemed like almost all the lights were on. It was not intensively bright or anything, but he found that was brighter in here than he would have expected it to be. And it really confused him. Considering how bright it was in here...why wasn’t anyone in here?

It just made no sense to him at all. This place is usually not this well lit unless there was someone else here. They wouldn’t want to waste energy like this so easily, now would they? But seeing how things were here now...it was almost as if they were in the middle of doing something and then they just..left. Something caused them to just get up and leave.

This caused the bird zoner to freeze. What would cause these zoners to just...flee like that? What could possibly chase them all out like this? Was there another danger here? Had Sandra struck when he was still under her control, or the Signal’s control or whatever? Or could something else be going on around here?

He approached the long table in the next room. He could see the frill cloth there, with multiple silverware and cups and plates set on it. He could see that food was still out and some of the plates still untouched, and others only partially eaten. The smell of the food hung strongly in the air, and it didn’t seem like that the food was abandoned that long ago. Moving in closer, he went up to one of the plates and, with a feather finger, rested it lightly against the food.

It was not just warm. It was still hot.

Withdrawing his finger, Dr. Crobat could feel his heart twitching in a knot. This all but confirmed one thing to him for certain. This place had been recently abandoned. Like...the moment he had stepped into the city, if not even earlier than that.

But why? He hadn’t seen anything going on. Even from a distance, he did not see anything that was really all that suspicious. With no visible threat, he could not fathom what could have made the zoners leave so quickly. Perhaps it was an early warning system? Maybe Sandra was on the way here? But the timing was just too perfect, wasn’t it...? What if...

He barely had time to wrap his mind around this sudden idea when he heard a clicking sound behind him. His body immediately stiffened up, his blood running cold. He knew immediately what that meant.

The door had been locked.

“I was wondering when you were going to show up...”

Dr. Crobat nearly jumped at that voice. He whirled himself around, half expecting to see that penguin officer from before. The voice sounded very similar. But to his surprise and worry, it was another cop. One that he did not recognize.

He remained still for several moments, unable to look away from the cop. He rubbed his hands together nervously, his teeth clenched tightly against each other. He struggled to think of something to say, but his mind was just drawing an utter blank. It was as if the cop’s eyes were just freezing him in place, refusing to allow him to even think of an answer, let alone give one.

The cop, who appeared to be an anthro lizard of some kind, her tail swishing from side to side, just stood there, glaring at him. He noted how her hands were folded behind his back and she had dark marks under her eyes, making it look as if she were permanently tired. The half closed eyes didn’t help. The mottled skin and long sharp claws only served to complete the image.

“You may not know who I am. Well of course you don’t...” The lizard cop said, motioning her paw towards him in gesture. “But I have taken the place of...” She narrowed his eyes as she scratched her chin thoughtfully. “..I don’t remember the name of that penguin zoner.. I hadn’t known him long...” She closed her eyes and motioned her hand to the side. “Not that it matters. He’s gone and I took his place. That’s as much as you need to know right now.”

What? That zoner was...dead? But when? How? Questions flooded Dr. Crobat’s mind. He wanted so much to just grab onto the zoner in front of him and shake her and demand answers. The only thing preventing him from moving was the fact that, considering this was a cop, he might end up making things worse for himself. So he remained still.

The thought did not leave his mind, however. He could feel the question still echoing in his mind over and over again. He could feel his head start to spin and ache as he tried to imagine what could have happened. Heck, he didn’t even know if he was dead at all; the lizard had never actually confirmed that.

“Anyway, my name is Officer Polych. I do hate that we had to meet like this, but you will have to come with me.” The lizard cop motioned her hand to herself, her tail swishing out to one side. “It is of dire importance.”

Dr. Crobat took a small step back, licking his lips nervously. “What...What do you mean? What is going on?”

There was a glint in the lizard’s eye as her tail curled up into a few circles. “I’m quite certain you already know what is going on. You do not have to hide it.” She straightened herself up as she folded her hands behind her back. “It is not like you have any thing to gain from lying to me anyway. So why don’t you just quit the acting and come along with me?”

Dr. Crobat wasn’t sure how to respond to this. A part of him had a feeling he knew why Officer Polych was doing this and what she wanted. But another part of him wanted to think it was something else. But there was also the lingering fear that... He tried not to let his mind get too wrapped up in that.

“Now, if you would be so kind as to stop gawking like that and just come along with me.” Officer Polych said. She tilted her head slightly to the side. “There is some important business that we must attend to.” She flicked her tongue out as she said this. “I insist we get going as soon as possible.”

“Okay but...can you at least tell me why you need me to follow you?” Dr. Crobat moved his hands in front of him. “I mean...I’m not sure where you’re getting at here. Am I an eye witness or...”

Officer Polych narrowed her reptilian eyes. “You, my fine good friend, are under arrest.”

Dr. Crobat immediately froze at this, his mind going numb for several seconds. When he was finally able to do anything, he took a step back, his movements so stiff he thought that his muscles were going to shatter. “Wh-What...?” Though he already had a good idea on the reason, he couldn’t help but ask, “Why...?”

Officer Polych curled her lip up into a snarl. “How dare you ask such things...” She pointed a sharp claw in his direction. “You should know very well what you have done!”

The bird zoner cringed at this. He couldn’t think of anything to say, and even if he could, he’d just remain silent. He didn’t think he could say anything at this point without accidentally provoking the lizard zoner further. So he just cringed back, watching as she took a few steps towards him, her taller stature making him feel smaller than he really was.

He could feel his heart start beating faster as the lizard zoner continued to get closer to him. He found himself backing up a little. He couldn’t help but stare at her claws, nothing the tips glinting in what light was available in here. He tried not to gulp, keeping his eyes glued on hers. He could feel his mind racing in his head as he struggled to figure out just what he was going to do now.

He flinched when he felt himself hit against an empty table behind him. The edge pushed up against his side. He placed his hand against it and rubbed it carefully. He did not take his eyes off the approaching lizard, however, and he pushed himself against the table as she towered over him. He could almost feel her body against him, those eyes glaring down at him intently.

Eyes that looked as if they had seen so much...

..such as loss...

Dr. Crobat widened his eyes at that, struggling not to take in a sharp breath. He couldn’t bring himself to ask for confirmation, but it just seemed...all written there in her eyes. Like she had lost something near and dear to her... He realized immediately this was potentially a conflict of interest, but it was clear that she didn’t care. Not that there was anything that he could do about it anyway.

“For the last time, bird...” The lizard zoner spoke, her teeth clenched, her eyes narrowed into slits. “Come with me now...or I am going to drag you there by your fucking tail feathers!”

Dr. Crobat cringed at this, raising a wing over and looking away, gritting his beak. There seemed to be only one option that he could take. Not like Dr. Polych was giving him much of a choice, now was she?

sss

What a boring day. There wasn’t really much to do out here. Just stand around and stare at nothingness. Oh, how exciting. She could hardly contain her excitement.

She had thought that, when they entered this place, there would be something for her to do. If there had been anyone else here, she would have at least some interaction. Or even a challenger. Fighting was fun when she found the right opponents. And those were rather tough to come by.

But all she could do right now was just wait here for that doctor to return. She had nothing better to do but just lay on the ground, lowering herself against the floor, keeping her head positioned like an S. She could feel her feathers press up against her chin, sending out a comforting warmth. It would have helped her relax a little if her mind wasn’t constantly marching, constantly wanting to be on the move.

It was quite tempting to get up and do a little searching around for herself. Not like she had much to do here anyway. That Dr. Crobat wouldn’t miss her for that long, right? Besides, she was larger than him and thus took larger strides. She could outpace him even when he was at his healthiest. The thought was quite amusing to her. She’s seen prey moving faster than him.

But it didn’t really matter now. She was trapped here. She knew better than to try to leave. If she did so.... Well, not that she was afraid of being hurt. But it was in her own creation DNA, if that made any sense, to remain loyal. And that is exactly how she has been. No way she was going to change that now, and all because of boredom.

Normally she was able to handle these types of situations. But she just could not stop feeling so...restless was the only term that she could think of. She wanted to run to jump, to hunt. Anything to relieve this built in tension inside her body. She wasn’t sure how long she’d be able to handle this.

She couldn’t understand how these other zoners, even her own creator, were able to sit around for hours and not do anything. Why could they not see that life was always on the move? That they should always be on the move to catch up with it? A part of her couldn’t help but wonder if they were going to become slow and lethargic. She wouldn’t even be surprised if they started to act all mopey and demotivated; she’s already seen it before.

Well, at least here, she could...

Suddenly, she heard something. A banging sound. She immediately raised her head up and she whipped her head over. She couldn’t see anything yet. She lifted her head in the air and gave a few whiffs. Her eyes immediately widened. She might not see anything, but she could certainly smell something...

Immediately she snarled, baring her teeth as she curled her lips up. There was an intruder in there. Someone was with that Dr. Crobat fellow. Finally, a target for her to go after.

If she could give one of those smiles that those zoners could make, she would be doing that right now. With her back parallel to the ground, her tail swinging from side to side, her leg muscles tightening. She stared intently over at the door, watching, waiting for something to happen. A low growl eminated from her mouth.

Suddenly, the door was opened up. It happened so quickly that the green dinosaur jumped backwards. She immediately stifled herself upon seein what colors that they were sporting. Blue. Not something that she was supposed to touch. She could feel her heart tighten up in disappointment. There was no target here for her to go after.

She was about to turn and walk away when she realized something was wrong here. She did not understand much of what was being said; it was too garbled and they were talking at the same time. But she was able to understand enough that there was a lot of distress and anger being expressed. Something more was going on here but what was...

She remained where she was and just watched, trying to make sense of what was going on. She could see a whole group of cops moving about. Judging from the way they were moving, it would seem that they were in a hurry to go somewhere. They also seemed like they were crowding around something. There was something clearly of interest to them and they looked determined to keep it from getting out, if that made any sense.

Not like she could understand what there was of interest around here. Mostly just stoney stuff. Not even a good place to run around on, or any nice prey to chase. Just what did those zoners find appealing about this place? She doubted she would understand them at all.

But wait...there was something...off about that whole thing. Something just didn’t feel right to her. What were those people crowde around for? Why was there a familiar scent among the group? Why was...

Her eyes immediately widened when she saw that the one being taken away....

...was Dr. Crobat.

She froze where she stood as the blue marked zoners moved past her without even paying attention to her. No one spared her any attention, not even Dr. Crobat himself. He was too busy yelling at them, probably demanding that they let him go. He was twisting and turning as the other zoners held onto him. They were treating him quite roughly, like he was some kind of criminal.

Then she saw how he was tossed into one of those moving metal things. What did her creator call them? Beehickles? Something like that. He had been thrown into one of those like he was nothing more than saggy organ dripping with fluid. It took only moments before they were on their way.

Ripclaw simply stood there and watched, seeing how they were rapidly disappearing into the horizon. She didn’t move at first. She couldn’t; all that she could do was just watch this scene play out. Even as the remaining blue marked zoners were dispersing slowly, ignoring her completely, she could not avert her eyes away from the beehickle that was rapidly getting away.

She felt her mind filling with a conflict, and she realized she had to make a decision fast. She could remain here and stay out of this. She could simply wait for her creator to come over and pick her up. Surely he’d be here soon, right? She just needed to be patient and wait, just like a true predator.

But she had been tasted to watch over Dr. Crobat. She did not want her creator to be disappointed in her, to think that she had purposely abandoned him. Standing here was not going to do anything to keep that bird zoner safe, now was it? And she did feel the urge to start rushing forward. Even before she could stop herself, she could feel her hands raising up, her clawed digits flexing.

She couldn’t take it anymore. She could not stand here for any longer. She was responsible for Dr. Crobat. Her alpha, her creator, had given her a task and she was going to fulfill it. She had no intention on letting him down, regardless how difficult the task was going to be.

Without any further hesitation, ignoring whatever anyone else around her was doing, the green dinosaur launched herself forward, her feet pounding the ground, and she went into hot pursuit of her hard, metallic and fast moving prey.

sss

Dr. Crobat barely had time to react before he was shoved into the room. He fell into the ground, feeling his shoulder crash into the hard surface. He flinched, gritting his teeth, as he picked himself up. He looked down at his arm, noticing how ruffled his feathers looked, before glaring back at the zoners who had put him in here.

At this point, the door was already shut. But that did not stop the bird zoner from climbing up to his feet. He wobbled a little, feeling a sore achiness in his legs from his previous treatment, and he moved over towards the door. He placed his hand on it to brace himself and he started to yell out at the cops.

“You can’t do this! You aren’t supposed to arrest someone without a warrant!” Honestly, Dr. Crobat wasn’t entirely sure if this was true or not. But he didn’t care; he just felt like venting. “This isn’t fair! I didn’t do any of that!” He jumped back when he heard one of them bang against the door as hard as they could.

“Oh shut up!”

“Yeah! Be glad worse isn’t being done to you right now!”

The bird zoner hissed at this, baring his teeth. But he couldn’t bring himself to say anything. It wasn’t like they were even going to listen to him. So why bother even trying? He might as well just sit here and wait for them to bring over the head warden of this place. That was really all that he could do.

He put his back to the door and he slid down. He tried his best to ignore the words that the cops were saying on the other side. It was difficult, but he knew that he couldn’t allow them to get the better of him. No, he would show them that he was stronger than they. He would pull through this. He just had to.

He still had to remain on his toes, however. There was no way that he could let his guard down. Not here and certainly not now. It was just too risky. Especially after how he was treated...

Turned out there were other cops in that building. Officer Polych hadn’t been the only one. They were simply waiting for her to give the signal. As soon as he showed any strong resistance, which was quite loose with her, a simple wave of the hand ensured that he was covered by several cops. He had tried to fight back, which turned out to be a mistake. He was lucky that they didn’t break his bones with what they did in retaliation.

The whole thing just seemed overexcessive. And it was this that worried him the most. They weren’t behaving exactly like how he thought they would. The fear following this realization was enough to make him struggle even more, which only ended badly for him yet again. He was eventually subdued, but even as they carried him out, he still fought for his release.

Considering the fact that he ended up here, however, it was easy for anyone to tell how well that ended up for him. They hadn’t cuffed him or chained him or anything. They just tossed him in here and locked the door. A dark room with no light except for the little window above him on the door, and the space between the door and the floor itself.

The bird zoner hugged himself, spreading his wings over his own body. He realized just how chilly it was in here. No surprise. They probably didn’t see the purpose of it. This room did not look like a permanent accomodation; just a temporary abode for what he guessed was going to be further interrogation. The thought made him shudder. If that was how they were going to treat him earlier, he could only imagine what their ideas of interrogating would be.

And it wasn’t like he could even say anything to defend himself. He really didn’t know what he did beforehand. He didn’t have any sort of memory of what happened when he was under the control of the Signal. For all he know, he really did do those awful, horrible things. After all, he did torture his best friend and those two human teenagers...

Suddenly, he heard the door knob starting to turn. Dr. Crobat got up to his feet and he backed away slowly, watching the door carefully. He tensed his body up as though getting ready for a fight. He watched as the door was pushed open all the way, revealing a thickly muscled zoner standing in the door way.

He immediately recognized it as Bell. He was not too acquainted with the bull zoner, but his appearance was unmistakable. He narrowed his eyes a little and took a nother step back, waiting to see what Bell was going to do.

Behind him, there was another zoner, who looked eager to get into the room and get some ‘action’, so to speak. “Can I have a go at him?”

“Yeah, I’d like to try as well!” Squealed another zoner who attempted to clamor forward.

“Me too!”

“Silence!” Bell swung out a large arm, nearly knocking those other zoners away. He turned his head and looked down at them, his eyes narrowed and his teeth gritted. “I am going to talk with him! You all just stay back!”

The zoners sounded so disappointed at this. “But, Bell....”

Bell raised his hoof hand so quickly, it was almost impossible to see anything for a second except for a blur. “Just go do your jobs! I don’t want any of you crowding around here! If I hear so much as a scrape, you’re all in trouble, no matter which one of you caused it!” He snorted as he seethed at the cringing, smaller cop zoners. “Do you all understand me?!”

They quickly nodded their heads.

“Y-Yes sir..”

“We promise we’ll stay out of trouble...”

Bell just glared at them, baring his teeth. He kept watching them, keeping his hand pointed in one direction, and just waited for them to leave. It was only after the cops finally fled and went about their business that Bell finally shifted his attention back towards the bird zoner.

Dr. Crobat found himself taking another step back as Bell just smirked, shutting the door behind him. Not a single word had been spoken to him yet, but those few seconds, a very strange and uncomfortable vibe had been set. He licked his beak nervously, gritting it firmly, as Bell locked the door behind him. Then he started to make his way over towards him, rapidly showing just how more massive he was compared to him.

For a brief moment, Dr. Crobat thought that he recognized this situation. Maybe not this same intensity, but he couldn’t help but feel as though he had found himself in this zoner’s presence before. Other than that other time that he recalled, that is. A moment when he was locked up and...

Wait...was it true that...? He had a very fleeting moment of this earlier, and he had forgotten about it, but now...

Oh gawd no...

“I wonder how much you remember.” Bell commented softly. His voice was low, as though he feared that he would be heard. “You seem like you have put some of the puzzle pieces together. I am glad for that. I did not want to waste too much time on introductions...”

Dr. Crobat hunched his body, spreading out his wings in an attempt to make himself look larger. “What the hell do you think you’re doing?!”

Bell paused his walking, staring at the bird zoner with a somewhat amused expression. “You see...” He raised his hand up and moved it along his face, the tips of his hooves carefully grooming along his ears and fur in that location. “I have...ideas that I’ve been wanting to try for a long time. Of course, I never had the means to. It was so frustrating you know?” He held up a hand in gesture. “I could really improve things around here I’m sure, but if only I had the proper tools for it...”

“I’m not your tool!” Dr. Crobat scratched at the ground, feeling his emotions rise up inside of him. It took all his effort not to launch himself at the bull zoner, knowing full well that he could hurt. No, not could. Would.

Bell laughed at this, causing Dr. Crobat to flinch. “You? My tool? Oh come now, it was never like that!” Bell moved a little closer. “You were nothing more than experiment.” He motioned himself to the side slightly. “Just a stepping stone, really. I admit you had performed admirably...until recently that is.” He narrowed his eyes a bit, his expression contorting into what seemed to be like disappointment. “It really is such a shame...”

Dr. Crobat could feel his body start to shake. He had no idea how to take any of this. He wasn’t sure what he should say or do in response. Bell wasn’t making any complete sense, yet he could already get the feeling that he was in some serious trouble. And he had a feeling that, no matter what he did or said, he was not going anywhere anytime soon.

“Wh-What are you...” Dr. Crobat managed to say. He raised his wings a little higher, hunching his body. “What are you getting at? Why did you capture me then?” He took a few steps back, getting closer to the wall behind him.

Bell raised a hoof up and put it underneath his chin. He started to chuckle, his breath hitting against the top of the hoof. It was almost like how a scheming little girl would laugh. Seeing a massive bull like him doing the same thing was quite unnerving. “I needed to make sure that you didn’t warn anyone. As soon as Sarando told me that this is what you were planning, I knew I had to take action. So I had set up a little trap for you.”

Dr. Crobat widened his eyes a tad. “So you’re the one behind the...”

Bell nodded his head once. “Oh yes. I told them that the ‘monster’ was returning. Namely you...” He motioned his hand towards the rattled bird zoner. “It really is quite amazing how motivated you can make people with a simple faked video...”

“Faked...?” Dr. Crobat breathed. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. “You were willing to resort to...”

“For the greater good, yes.” Bell said, cutting him off. Dr. Crobat growled at this. Bell made a dismissive gesture with his hoof-like hand. “Deception is frowned upon by many. I myself am not too fond of it either. But when it comes to the greater good, a greater accomplishment... Then I am more willing to go for it. The ends justify the means, you know that?”

Blood boiled within the bird zoner’s body. He hadn’t yet heard what this bull’s ultimate plans were, but already he felt like scratching his eyes out. He didn’t care what his plans were at this point. Nothing could justify what he was doing, or what he was implying.

Never before had he ever thought that Bell could be so...malicious. So despicable... If he had known this earlier, he would have done...something to make sure that he didn’t cause trouble to anyone else. But he had been slow and foolish. Too trusting like everyone else. It was clear that Bell was a menace to ChalkZone City, wielding an obviously dangerous plan.

True, he didn’t know yet what this plan entailed. But if he could go by Bell’s previous words, it was quite clear that the plan was dangerous and risky and something that most zoners would be apalled by.

Why else would he use deceit to try to get his way...?

“But why the Signal...? Why would you use something so horrible? Y-You know what happened b-before...” Dr. Crobat spoke, his voice shaky and overflowing with emotion. “Why would you even think to...”

Bell chortled at this. “Oh that? I do not plan on using the Signal for anything terrible. But I do feel that it has its purpose.” Bell lifted his head up slightly. “Sandra may have been using it for evil purposes. But I can assure you, my intentions with it are much more noble.”

Dr. Crobat seethed at this, snapping his head back. “Noble?! What is so noble about making me hurt people?!”

“That was just a side effect. I was still trying to control it.” Bell narrowed his eyes. “Of course, it wouldn’t have been a loss if you got rid of those so-called ‘protectors’. Because really, they would have just been in the way.” He curled his lip up slightly. “I know for a fact that they would have tried to put a damper on things.”

“Because what you’re doing is wrong!” Dr. Crobat snapped back at him. He pressed his talons against the ground and pulled back. This released a loud scraping sound, ringing inside his ears and against the walls. “You disgusting bull... You call yourself a warden?! This isn’t protecting anyone! You’re just a tyrant! You just want to take over the city! You’re acting just like Skrawl!”

After his voice stopped echoing, Dr. Crobat panted. He continued to glare at the bull zoner as silence fell upon the room. The shock of what he said appeared to have struck Bell in the face, as the massive zoner hadn’t moved or spoken since. Dr. Crobat kept himself silent, trying to catch his breath and giving Bell time to really think about what he had said.

Of course, he did not fully expect his words to make much of an impact. Bell would probably just dismiss his words and say that he was nothing like him and try to justify his actions. There really wasn’t much that he could do at this point. His words ould not go through; he would have to think of a way to get out of here and fast.

But a part of him still hoped that something would click in Bell’s mind. Surely he would not want to act like how Skrawl did, trying to conquer the city, even the whole of the chalk world. Bell might truly have the best intentions in mind, and if he really did care, then realizing that he was becoming like Skrawl shuld be enough to make him back down. Or was he so drunk with the possibility of power that he was going to dismiss that entirely?

Well, perhaps he would....wait, was he...laughing?

Dr. Crobat gritted his beak and took a step back as he watched Bell give off a small yet cooled laughter. Confusion settled upon his mind, and he could feel his brain start spinning. He could feel tips of his body start to burn. Just what the hell did Bell find so hilarious?

“Well, looks like you hit the nail right on the head...”

Dr. Crobat’s body loosened up at this, a dread starting to creep along. No, he couldn’t mean that... “Y-You’re not saying that...”

A dark, twisted smile spread across Bell’s face. A smile that was filled to the brim with eagerness and determination and one hundred percent seriousness. “That’s right... I am trying to help Skrawl take over.”

For a split second, Dr. Crobat felt a bit of relief. “I thought you were going to...” Then the realization of what he just said struck him in full force. A rush of coldness swept through his blood vessels and he thought that he was going to fall into the ground. “You’re what?!”

“Oh I know it comes as a shock. But I can assure you that I am quite serious about this.” Bell folded his arms against his chest. “I want Skrawl to lead this place.”

“B-But...why?! You know how he is!” Dr. Crobat stammered, his mind racing. He just...couldn’t fathom what he was hearing. Why would Bell even think that this was a good idea? “Skrawl is an absolute monster! We’re lucky that we have protectors who can stop him from achieving his goals! We...”

“Something needs to be done about them. Those creators are simply pests. Trying to stifle on a system that would work so much better...” Bell brought his hands together and started to tap his claws against one another. “I thought about this for a long time, and I think it’s time for a change. We need a more permanent caretaker. And I feel that Skrawl is the best qualified for this job.”

Dr. Crobat felt shivers rushing through him. At this point, his back was fully against the wall. He could feel his legs knocking against each other, his beak grinding gainst itself. He had nowhere left to go. Bell started to make his way towards him, and all the bird zoner could do was push his back further against the wall.

He couldn’t believe it... He knew that Bell was doing something, but he never thought that he would do something like this. He... He had truly gone off the deep end. Oh why didn’t any of them see this sooner? He had been acting a little strange lately...

“I can see you are confused. I knew you would be. Not everyone fully understand my view. I was lucky to be blessed with some companions who see things my way....” Bell paused for a moment. “Or at the very least, they are willing to help me regardless.”

“Why are you doing this?” Dr. Crobat breathed. “Why would you think it would be a good idea to...”

“Oh I have my reasons. Don’t worry. This isn’t something that I woke up one day and decided it’d be a great idea. I have thought about this for a while and I do think it’s what’s best for ChalkZone.” Bell tilted his head to one side, tapping his hoof finger tips together. “I will be more than happy to explain why, if you want.”

Dr. Crobat shakingly nodded his head, swallowing nervously. As much as the idea is terrifying him... He was morbidly curious about just what this zoner had in mind, morbidly curious to know just why the hell he thinks this is a good idea.

So with a slow, reluctant nod of his head, he hissed, “Go right ahead...”

sss

Bell couldn’t help but sneer as he stared into Dr. Crobat’s eyes. He didn’t initially have any intention on telling him anything further. It was quite tempting to just call his bluff and leave him. He had only wanted to make sure he had arrived here anyway. He hadn’t intended on staying long and chit chatting with him.

But since he wasn’t going to leave any time soon, or rather never, then there was no point in holding back this information, now was there? It wouldn’t really put a damper on things. It would not change a damn thing about his fate. Oh no, he would remain here for the rest of his life, unable to tell anyone just what he was up to.

So sure, why the fuck not? And who knows? Maybe he would get lucky and it would turn out that this bird was one of the more understanding types. Maybe he would see where he was getting at.

Nah, that wasn’t likely. He knew what most zoners were like and how they felt about Skrawl. He doubted anything he said would sway Dr. Crobat. He knew fully well how the conversation was going to end, no matter what he did or said. Oh well, no matter. Not like the stupid bird could really do anything about it anyway.

So he began.

“It is really quite simple. I’m surprised someone of your...intelligence, hasn’t figured it out yet.” Bell commented. He ignored the hiss that he got from the bird zoner as he continued, tilting his head slightly upwards. “I only want what is best for this world. Did you not think that I really thought about this? Did you not put the pieces of the puzzle together?”

Oh how he loved to be vague. Not just straight up say something. He wanted to draw it out just a little bit. He wanted to see the bird zoner reacting to all of this, see him try to guess just what he had in mind.

Dr. Crobat was already squirming it seemed. He hadn’t yet gone into detail and already Dr. Crobat was wriggling around as if he had delivered the worst news possible. The sight of it almost made him grin. He did manage to keep himself under control, but just barely. Only a small smile managed to tug at the corners of his mouth.

“I am aware about all the... ‘good’ that Rudy and the others have brought to this world. Indeed, we do seem lucky to be blessed with multiple ‘saviors’.” It was a struggle to say that line. Bell tried his best not to sound too sarcastic with those words. It wouldn’t really do well to show his point if he was too condescending about it. “They have helped us out many times before and they had helped to keep everyone safe. I’m sure many are grateful for that.”

“But obviously not you...” Hissed Dr. Crobat. His talons curved inward on the ground, making it look almost like he was forming a fist there. “If you did care, you wouldn’t be doing any of this stuff!”

Bell sighed and shook his head. “Oh how naive you are... You really aren’t looking at the bigger picture, are you?” He closed his eyes softly. “It does sadden me that someone as intelligent as you has not yet figured out the most obvious of answers.”

He could hear Dr. Crobat growling at this and he smirked in response. Dr. Crobat was struggling to speak, but it would seem that he was unable to. Perhaps he was fearing what could happen to him if he stepped out of line. Well that was good at least. It would be a darn shame if something too bad happened to him before he was finished.

Bell started to pace back and forth in front of Dr. Crobat, keeping his side to him, keeping one eye looking down at him. They regarded him with an intense glint, his lips curled up, teeth exposed. “Are you really forgetting one important thing?” He stopped and he turned himself around to face the bird completely. “...they’re human. Aside from Ripclaw and Snap, they’re all human.”

“Y-Yes...that is true. But..” Dr. Crobat leaned his head back. “Are you insinuating that they would...” He swallowed nervously. “Betray us..?”

Bell shook his head. “No, that’s not really my concern.” He moved in closer, turning his head down and staring at the bird in the eyes. “No, my concern is something else entirely. Something that I do not think anyone here has really thought about. It’s something that is so obvious, something that warrants at the very least preparations.”

Dr. Crobat turned his head to the side, staring at him with one eye. His body shook a little from the emotion that was clearly racing through his mind. He was struggling to breathe it seemed, frantically trying to find something to say to that. Bell kept quiet and gave him all the time that he needed to reply. And when he did, it was a small, simple response.

“What might that be..?”

Bell tried not to let out an exasperated sigh. He had not yet met any zoner who realized what could happen. No one realized or took into account the implications of humans being their guardans. It was so frustrating. He had thought that at least once he’d find someone who understood, who felt the same way that he did.

But no, there was no one. Even Sarando and the others, they had to be spoken to in order for them to understand. Other than that, no one seemed to understand at all.

And it hurt him to an extent. He thought that at least someone would realize the dangers that laid ahead. Surely he couldn’t possibly be the only one. He couldn’t be the only one who saw the issues with all of this. He couldn’t be...alone. But in the end, he knew that he was. Truly and utterly alone... He thought for a moment if this is how Sandra felt.

Baring his teeth a little, Bell spoke throug his clenched teeth. “They age, you numbskull.”

Dr. Crobat stared at him long and hard. His eyes slowly blinked, narrowed slightly to demonstrate confusion. Then it seemed to eventually dawn on him and he raised his head up, his eyes widening in response. “...that is correct. Those three, they do age.” Bell gave a small smile at his realization. “But...” Dr. Crobat stared towards the ground a little. “But that would take a long time, and we could pick someone better than Skrawl if it came to that... I mean...”

“Better? There is no one better.” Bell replied. “Skrawl wants to take over ChalkZone to make it a better place. He is more devoted to it than you might think. And he is among the smartest here. Heck, the guy even created a sentient machine!” He spread his hoof hands into the air, moving them outward. “You can’t possibly tell me that there is no one better. He is the perfect replacement.”

“But we still have the creators now!” Dr. Crobat wailed, spreading his wings outward. “There is no need for..!”

Bell shifted his head towards him quickly, his eyes locking onto his. “You can keep saying that all you want to. But you shouldn’t deny the cold hard fact. It is hard for people to change into something new if it’s introduced too late.” He tilted his head upwards, glaring down at him. “What if they got into an accident soon? What if something were to...happen..?”

“Like what? I...” Dr. Crobat’s voice trailed off. He sucked in a sharp breath, cringing away from him. “You meant for me to kill them...”

Bell merely shrugged his shoulders. “I don’t care if you regard that as my plan or not.” He moved in even closer, and at this point, he had pushed the zoner up against the wall completely. There was nowhere for the bird to go. “But in the end, well, now you know. You know that those three will die one day and when they go, they will be without a savior, without someone to protect them.” He raised a hand into the air, forming a fist with it. “And what will we do then?”

Dr. Crobat shook his head rapidly. “No! There has to be someone else!”

Bell grabbed onto his beak to seal it shut tightly. He yanked his head down and moved his face close to his. Only about an inch away, if not less. He spoke through his gritted teeth. “There is no one else! It has to be Skrawl! And mark my words, bird...” He yanked his head painfully to the side, causing him to let out a loud yelp. “..if you try to stand in my way, I am going to take great pleasure in tearing you down...”

And he meant it, too. He would not tolerate anyone standing in his way. He was not going to allow anyone to ruin his plans. He wanted what was best for ChalkZone. He wanted to save as many as he could. And if one person tried to stop him from doing that... Well, why shouldn’t he try to do something about it? It would be their fault for getting in the way, after all.

He watched as Dr. Crobat stared at him fearfully. He watched as his avian body shivered, his feathers almost looking as if they were getting drenched by something. Dr. Crobat had remained silent save for a few small whimpers and incoherent sentences, likely him attempting to understand why he had said those things, or if he had meant them. He narrowed his eyes at the bird, confirming to him that he was being quite serious.

Eventually, Dr. Crobat did start to struggle against him. Oh what a stupid little bird... Though Dr. Crobat managed to partially squeeze in one direction, he never got that far. Grabbing into his neck, causing him to gag, the bull zoner rammed him against the wall, causing him to cry out in pain.

“Oh you’re trying to get away, aren’t you?” Bell chortled darkly. “Well then... perhaps I will just...” He raised his hand up, pointing his pointed tips at the thin, flexible neck that was Dr. Crobat’s. “..let you go.”

Dr. Crobat widened his eyes in utter terror. He struggled against his grasp, trying to twist his body from side to side. “N-No...please!” He watched as the sharp tips pressed against his neck. He shut his eyes tightly as he prepared for the pain. “Somebody...please...help me!”

Bell couldn’t help but release a laugh at this. He paused for dramatic effect, watching as Dr. Crobat squirmed about. A part of him felt a little bad for doing this, but he reminded himself that it was for a really good cause. So, deciding not to draw it out any longer, he began to press his claws into the screeching, terrified bird’s neck.

Suddenly there was a flash of green. Something soft rammed against him in full force. He let out a cry of pain as he rammed into the ground, the side of his head hitting the hard floor. He laid there, dazed for several moments, before picking himself up.

Turning his head around, he could see that something...large, green, and feathery was grabbing a hold of Dr. Crobat. He could see the bird’s still frightened body against the back of the creature. Then it turned and looked over at him. Upon seeing the set of reptilian eyes, he let out a gasp, realizing just who this thing was.

“Ripclaw?! You...!”

A million questions raced through his mind. How did she get here? What did she do to the others? But he hardly had time to dwell on any of them as the raptor zoner had immediately started to race out of the room. Baring his teeth, he tried to stop, launching himself at her. But he lost his grip almost immediately and he crashed into the ground, ramming his chin and causing himself to bite his own tongue.

Bell pushed himself onto his hands and shook his head. He looked at where the dinosaur zoner had fled and he pushed himself off the ground. He grabbed onto the doorway and, opening his mouth wide, he began to shout, “Someone! Stop her! She’s taking away our prisoner!”


	39. Forced To Watch

I’m forced to look at you.  
-A Thousand Faces, Creed

sss

“Come on! We need to hurry!”

“I’m coming! I’m coming! Don’t go so...”

“We don’t have much of a choice!”

“Yes, I know, but...”

“Just keep running!”

Mint struggled to pant heavily as he and Penny raced along the corridor. They moved as quickly as their feet could carry them, doing nothing to look back and see what was coming in behind them. They focused on what was in front of them. Even though they could see too much, they still kept running.

This dark and dank corridor seemed to go on for a while, and there was no specific pattern to it. Some places just seemed empty, even for a hallway. And that made sense; this was not a normal hallway they were in; it was a makeshift one that they had stumbled upon earlier.

Not that it made them any safer. Despite their efforts earlier to keep themselves as quiet as possible, that didn’t seem to stop the two Beanie Boys from finding them. They didn’t even know how it happened; they hard kept their voices low and they had been moving very quietly. Were they just that good of hearing or was something else going on?

Mint and Penny didn’t waste time thinking about that, however, and they just kept pressing forward. They both knew they had to get out of here as soon as possible. Or at the very least, create another wall to slow them down. There wasn’t enough time for that however; the Beanie Boys were just...way too close. It would be too difficult to get their magic chalk out and draw something. So they had no choice but to keep going and wait for an opportunity to present itself.

But so far, that didn’t seem like it was going to happen any time soon. The Beanie Boys were catching up, moving faster, having the advantage of being able to fly. Only the narrowness of the hallway made it a little hard for them to catch up. But this only slowed them down a tad; not nearly enough time for them to draw some kind of escape.

Well true, they could draw something in front of them without problem. Not like the Beanie Boys would be able to stop that. But with how unpredictable this hallway was, it would be too risky to try. For all he knew, they were going to run into a...

Suddenly he and Penny had to stop for a moment. They could hear crumbling at their feet, and they winced as they listened to how far the rocks were falling. An incomplete portion of the corridor. This was why they had to be careful.

“Gotcha!”

The two teenagers barely dodged out of the way in time before one of the Beanie Boys launched himself at them. Mint could feel the wind rushing from the swift movement of those arms, barely missing grabbing into him. Mint and Penny rushed forward before turning back and noticing the Beanie Boy had plunged into the darkness.

The other Beanie Boy had stopped. He seemed to momentarily forget about them as he moved towards the opening and peered inside. He called out to his comrade, asking if he was okay.

With the two Beanie Boys momentarily distracted, the two teens used this opportunity to try gain some distance again. Using their magic chalk, they quickly drew a barricade to hold the Beanie Boys back. They weren’t entirely sure if that would hold them for long. They were pretty strong zoners after all. But at least it’d give them time to try to hide again.

As fast as they could, the two teens bolted down the hallway. They thought they could hear the Beanie Boys pounding against the wall, trying to get out at them. Thankfully, they were held back quite easily, and they weren’t able to do much other than shout loudly at them from behind. Soon they weren’t able to hear them at all, and the pair disappeared down the hallway.

They didn’t stop running until they were absolutely sure that they had lost them. They finally stopped their running so they could catch their breath. With their hands on their thighs, they breathed in and out quickly, their ribcages inflating and deflating rapidly, their mouths dry and in need of water.

Which made them both remember.... They didn’t have anything to eat or drink... Oh why didn’t they remember to be better prepared? It was going to be quite difficult to fight off against their enemies if they were going to feel hungry or thirsty. They made a mental note to try to conserve their energy the best that they could. They were going to need it for later.

Once they caught their breath, they took a look around, trying to see where this makeshift corridor had taken them to now. But upon seeing how this palce looked, with the more cave-like structure even though it was not a cave, and seeing that appeared to be signs, though unreadable, they realized that they were in a new hallway, one that was actually supposed to exist. Looking back, they could see a ridge in the ground, snaking up the walls and along the ceiling, and they pieced it together right away that this had been the very end of this current hallway.

Getting an idea, Mint rushed over to the ridge and took a look at it. He could see how jagged the edges were. Yes indeed, this was indication that something had drilled through here, creating these marks. This was where this tunnel had truly ended...or began, depending on how one chose to look at it.

Mint raised up his magic chalk and he quickly went to work. He ignored Penny’s confused cries behind him as he quickly drew lines up and down. In a matter of seconds, the new rock surface materialized. Mint took a moment to look at it, making sure that it was able to intermingle with everything else without looking too off. He gave it a few knocks just to be sure, and after he was satisfied, he turned his head over to look at Penny.

“That should keep them busy for a little while.” Mint said before he began to walk back towards Penny. “We should take this chance to try to find our way out of here.”

Penny nodded her head in agreement. “We need to figure out where to go from here, though.” She lifted her head up and she looked around, staring at their new, noticeably different surroundings. “Just where are we now? I can’t even tell if we’re anywhere close to the hideout anymore.”

“I’m sure we’re still there.” Mint said as he raised his finger up. “I don’t think the Beanie Boys could have chased us that far away. We’ve been mostly running in a wide circle anyway. I think we’re just in a different part of the hideout now.” He lowered his hand and he took a look around himself. “The question is...just where are we...?”

“Indeed....that will be hard question to answer.” Penny walked away from Mint, taking a few steps in one direction. “We will need to figure out some way of figuring out where we are.” She put her hands on her hips. “But just what could we use?”

Mint didn’t answer her. He kept himself quiet as he looked around this place for a second time, trying to get as much details from it as he could. He could see that the walls were stoney, indicating that they weren’t that far below the structure. And it did look slightly familiar, so he figured they weren’t actually that far away from an area they had been in sometime ago.

But that wasn’t enough to go by. There was still no telling what laid behind these walls, or which way they would even see anything. He wished that he could get more information out of the rocky surfaces here. Something more precise than just the grooves in the walls. But he knew there was not a whole lot that could be done to help them, and they were left in the dark.

That is, unless they took the chance and drew a small portal to see... But even that came with a risk. It would be quite noticeable, wouldn’t it? Portals glowed and that was quite problematic. Sure it might be brief, but it would be more than enough for someone in the area to see it. Then their cover would be blown. Even a small portal would be enough for a passerby to notice.

Considering how unpopulated this area was, that seemed...unlikely. They had higher chances of finding an empty area than they did Sandra or one of the other Beanie Boys. Still, it was quite a risk, and they had to be cautious about it regardless.

Mint made his way over towards one of the walls and stared at it carefully. He leaned his hand over and placed his palm against it, moving it up and down. He wished that they could see through it without using a portal. But...

...wait a minute. How could he have been so stupid? There was something they could have done this whole time and neither of them thought to do it. He wanted to rip his hair out for...

No, he couldn’t waste time on that. With the thought in his mind, he looked over at Penny and called out ot her.

“Hey, I think I got an idea!”

Penny whirled her head around and stared over at Mint, her eyes blinking a few times. “Yes, Mint? What is it?”

“I think I figured out something that we could do! Come on!” Mint motioned his hand over, encouraging Penny to get closer to him. Only when she was right next to him did he turn his head and look at the wall and continue speaking. “This may be a good spot to try it out.”

“Try what out? You hadn’t told me what your idea was.” Penny pointed out. “Would you mind filling me in?”

“Yes, of course.” Mint nodded his head once slowly. He felt a little filly for forgetting to go into detail about that, and just jumping forward as if Penny knew what he was referring to. “Well, this wall could be our way out of here, but we need to know what’s on the other side.” He motioned towards the wall for a moment before pulling his hand back, lowering it towards the ground. “But...well, using portals would be too risky.”

Penny narrowed her eyes. “I could have told you that.” She paused for a moment, and then pressed on, “So...what is your idea? You have a way of looking through without exposing us?”

Mint nodded his head. “I’m thinking we could create an x-ray machine, just like...”

“...the one that we had before...” Penny’s eyes widened in realization. “Of course... I forgot all about that...”

Mint gave another nod of his head. “So did I. We were so busy trying to run that we just...forgot about it.” He looked away for a moment. “And then of course we lost the machine and...”

Penny reached forward and touched his shoulder, clearly sensing the guilt in his voice. “It was not your fault.” She gave his shoulder a gentle squeeze. “Besides, we can get to drawing a new x-ray machine now.” She looked towards the wall, narrowing her eyes. “And I suggest we do it quickly. Before we’re interrupted again.”

“Good idea. Not like it’s too probable, but...you know. Preparation.” Mint shrugged his shoulders a little before he looked back at the wall. He paused for a moment, and then he turned to stare at Penny. “Are you ready?”

Penny nodded. “Of course.”

“Okay, then let’s get started.” Mint narrowed his eyes as he raised the magic chalk in unison with Penny. Then, as quickly as they could, the two began to draw.

It didn’t take as long as before. If anything, it took maybe half the time. All they were doing really was recreating the machine they used before. Such a simple thing to draw. Just a few twists and flicks of the wrist, and soon they were able to create the machine for a second time.

It was of the same design as before. A large monitor-like device that stretched outward, spanning probably three feet in length. There were multiple buttons on the bottom, lining the metallic rim, all of them having a slight glow of a different color, making it easy to tell which button was what. The screen itself was pitch black as it hadn’t yet been turned on. If any of them touched it, they would notice how unusually smooth it felt, almsot like it was made out of some strange new material.

The two of them held it up and they placed it against the wall. They made sure that it leaned against the hard, rocky surface without falling down. It was at a slight, diagonal angle, but it still worked just fine. Once they were sure it would not fall down, they positioned themselves right in front of it and they reached down towards the buttons. After fiddling with it for a few moments, it appeared to start working. There was a flicker, and the screen turned on.

At first, all they could really see were some grainy, sharply tipped lines and not much else. They waited for several moments, giving the machine some time to warm up and perform the task that it had been told to do. Then, after a while of waiting, the screen flickered another time, and an image started to fade into view. Black and white and inverted, similar to a video game Mint recalled playing before, but he didn’t waste time thinking about that. He focused on what the image was showing him.

It was some kind of room. It was hard to tell if there were multiple cells in here or not. The angle they were viewing at, they were only looking at a single cell. With the inversion, it was hard to tell if anyone was in there or not. The colors were..quite bright.

It wasn’t until a few moments later, after a lot of focusing, that they started to see...something. Some kind of form. There was indeed someone in there. But who could it be? Had Sandra...?

A cold rush ran through their bodies as they realized that it was unlikely that Sandra captured someone else. They were well aware that there was hardly anyone here. The possibilities were quite limited. They both realized in a few seconds that there wasn’t really much that this individual could be outside of one of their friends...

But with so little detail, and with the person in the cell laying down, they could not really tell who it was exactly. Their only option was just to stand here and watch, hoping that they would be shown soon enough just who this person was.

Just then, they could see another individual coming in. This one, they did recognize even without the details. There was no mistaking Sandra’s form. Mint and Penny growled at the sight of her, both wanting so much to jump through the wall and grab her while they had the element of surprise. But they forced themselves to remain restrained and quiet. Any wrong move could be the end for their friend.

So very reluctantly, Mint and Penny watched the scene play out before them.

sss

Sandra smirked at the shivering form that was Rudy Tabootie. The stupid human hadn’t really moved from that spot since she had temporarily left him. She doubted he even tried to escape in that state. He was so shaken up by what happened, he probably didn’t have the energy to even try to do anything.

Oh how delightful... Of course, she was going to kind of miss his struggling. A part of her hoped that he still had something left in her. It wasn’t as much fun breaking someone into submission if they complied too quickly to your demands. She wanted to be able to feel like she ‘earned’ his ‘loyalty.’

She hadn’t fully decided what she was going to do with him now, but she would think of something fast. Her old desire of wanting to kill him did start to resurface. And her old anger of what he did before was coming back. That alone would inspire so many things, so many routes that she could easily take with him. Deciding on one thing may get rapidly more and more difficult.

But she had all the time in the world, didn’t she? More than enough time before those bratty humans came to save their little friend anyway.

She struggled not to growl at the memory. She still couldn’t believe that Rudy had her so fooled. He must have done something to allow them to get inside. He had tricked her this whole time. What a disgusting little vermin... She could try to read his memories, as she had some capabilities of doing that, lilke she had with Snap. But it was a draining process and she already had her fun with Snap. Besides, she already knew that Rudy was involved and that was enough for her to punish him.

Of course, it would be a lot more fun if she made him tell her himself. It was one thing to steal information using stealth. But doing so more forcibly, where they have a chance to fight back but they utterly fail... there was just something about that which ended up feeling much more...rewarding to her. She couldn’t help but smile at the thought.

She reached over and she grabbed onto one of the bars. She leaned herself against it as she stared down at Rudy, who had remained silent this entire time. She slowly licked her lips, deliberately exposing her teeth, letting Rudy get a good brief look at them. Then, working off on a whim, she said, “Well...are you ready to talk now?”

Rudy didn’t answer her. He pressed himself against the ground and trembled. But he made no attempt to reply to her. His whole body was shivering even harder, especially when she leaned her head forward, glaring at him more intently.

“Well...?”

Rudy just turned his head away from her. His eyes were still glued on her, however, and his pupils followed as she moved her head to the side, growling softly at him. A part of her wondered if she made him too afraid. Maybe that’s why he wasn’t speaking.

Well then, she could always try a different tactic. If he was going to be afraid to answer, then she would make him afraid not to answer. Giving him a devilish grin, she held out her hand and, forming a tight fist, she activated her powers.

Almost right away, Rudy’s eyes bulged and his mout hopened wide. He tried to scream, but her powers had such a tight hold around his chest that he couldn’t even breathe. He gagged and he spluttered, clawing at his chest frantically as he looked at her with a fearful, desperate look, silently pleading with her to let him go.

Of course, she did not answer his pleas. Not like he deserved to be answered, anyway. Not after what he had done... She narrowed her eyes into slits as she tightened her fist even more, turning it a little to the side. In response, Rudy jerked his body to one side, one of his hands raising up, the fingers arched and stiffened. He let out a louder gasp this time, but it still cut off short of a scream.

“I wouldn’t try to lie if I were you, Rudy. I’m sure you wouldn’t want to be in worse pain.” Sandra’s eyes glinted as she smirked upon seeing Rudy looking at her with an even more terrified expression. “Why don’t you make it easier on yourself and tell me what I want to know? I promise I will stop hurting you during our little session today if you are willing to speak to me.”

Rudy shut his eyes tightly, clenching his teeth, seething through them. He wriggled on the ground, gripping at his neck and chest as he continued to struggle to breathe. Eventually, he lowered his head in submission and he started to nod shakingly. Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. She was unsure if he was being truthful or not, but regardless, she did release him.

Immediately, Rudy was on the ground. Holding himself up with one hand, he gripped his throat with the other. He opened his mouth wide and he took in several deep breaths, wheezing loudly and noisily in the process. It seemed to take him a while before he breathe somewhat normally. And even then, he still didn’t look up at her. He just stared at the ground, as though he were trying to escape this reality.

Sandra narrowed her eyes. She moved in closer towards him, her tail swishing behind her. She stood before him for a couple seconds, watching as he continued to breathe in slightly shakingly. Then she reached out and she grabbed onto his chin firmly, forcibly tilting it up and making him look at her. Their eyes locked onto each other and she thought she could feel a cold bolt going through the boy’s body.

“And before we continue, I want you to do something for me...” Sandra started to say.

Rudy shivered and gulped nervously. “Wh-What more do you want me to...”

Sandra put her face close to his. Her crimson eyes felt like they were setting themselves on fire. This alone made it more difficult for Rudy to look away from her. She stared at him long and hard before she spread her smile across her face more wickedly. She gave a quick chortle. She knew exactly how she could make Rudy do exactly as he was told. “I want you to make a promise, Rudy..”

Rudy widened his eyes. His terrified expression alone was enough for her to know that Rudy knew full well what this all entailed. “P-P-Promise...?” She could have sworn she heard him swallowing again. “Wh-What kind of....” He grimaced for a moment. “...promise...?”

Sandra narrowed her eyes into slits. She curled her lips back into a snarl before letting them twist upwards. She wondered just how she looked right now. She took a moment to stare into Rudy’s eyes, and she could, very faintly, see her own reflection in them.

Moving her hand up to caress his cheek, she spoke softly, “I want you to promise me that you are going to answer my questions when I ask them to you. And I want you to promise that you are going to be truthful. Promise me that you are not going to hide or hold back any longer. I want the truth. And I want you to promise me that you will give me that truth.”

Rudy was silent for several moments. His body was frozen in place, his eyes bulging wide. Sandra couldn’t help but smirk at him. She had gotten him right where she wanted him. He knew full well of the consequences if he dared lie to her. And he also knew that he wasn’t going to get away with backing out before he made the promise either. So he was trapped.

Rudy quickly realized his fate. Knowing full well that he didn’t have any other choice, he bowed his head slowly. He hesitated for a few moments before he said, “I...I promise...”

“Good little boy...” Sandra said with a dark smile. “Now things should go very smoothly. Now remember, answer me honestly...” She gripped his face tightly suddenly, causing him to cry out in pain. “..or else...” Her eyes glinted at this.

Rudy nodded his head shakingly. “I-I will...” He gulped. “I will...”

“Okay then. Now time to make a little headway...” She leaned her head in towards him, narrowing her eyes into slits. “Where exactly are those little brats? Mint and Penny? Where did you send them off to?”

Rudy shivered in response. He didn’t answer her right away. Not that she was too surprised; he was probably trying to think of a way to defend his pathetic little friends. But now he had no choice but to tell her what she wanted to now. Otherwise... “I-I did n...I mean, that is to say..”

Sandra pulled Rudy in closer, her grip on him tightening. “You didn’t what?” Her voice took a darker tone. “If you’re trying to break your promise already...”

“N-No! Th-That’s not it all all! It’s just...” Rudy paused for a moment, his voice trailing off.

“It’s just...” Sandra tilted her head to one side, staring at him with one red eye. “...what...?”

“W-Well, do you think that they would be stupid enough to tell me e-everything? They would have known that you’d get me alone somehow and interrogate me.. So I really don’t know what else they could be doing.” Rudy spoke. He attempted to keep himself calm-looking, narrowing his eyes softly. There was still fear in them of course, but the mere fact that he was trying to look serious did mean something. “You can ask me all you want, but I would not know exactly where they’d be right now. I can only tell you th-that they’d be trying to rescue me.”

Sandra glared at Rudy. She processed this information, wondering just how much of it she’d believe. On the one hand, Rudy knew better than to lie to her. He knew the repurcussions of breaking a promise with her. He had the damaged spinal cord to prove it. But on the other hand, he might just be biding time.

Oh well, she might as well entertain the idea for now. After this session, if she found out that he was lying to her, she would make sure he was punished for it. For now, it was time to continue.

“I see...” She said as she raised her head. She twitched her ears upwards lightly. “So you are telling me that they are somewhere in this castle, looking for you?”

Rudy nodded his head. “I...I wouldn’t doubt it...” He paused for a moment before he continued. “I also imagine that the Beanie Boys might be still after them. You might end up getting them as your...” He narrowed his eyes and growled. “...prisoners...”

“Oh I do hope so. I was a fool in trying to kill them off so quickly.” Sandra moved her hand towards her chest. “I should have seen to their deaths personally. Or at the very least...” She lowered her hand to her side. “...made sure they were my prisoners sooner. I had the chance, and I let it go.” She shook her head. “Oh what an idiot I was.”

Rudy gave a bitter chuckle. “Glad to see I’m not the only one who thinks so.”

Sandra snapped her jaws quickly, letting out a loud hiss. She flashed her teeth at the now cowering Rudy, drool dripping from her jaws. She would have bit him if she didn’t recall her own promise. She did promise that she was not going to hurt him again this session if he promised in return to answer her questions. And he was doing that so far. Well no matter; she did have other ways of punishing him that didn’t technically involve hurting him.

“Oh? Is that so, little Rudy?” Sandra sneered at him. She moved herself closer to him. He tried to move himself back, bending his spin to try to get away from her. “Is that what you think? Am I that much of an idiot to you...?”

“P-Please...I..I didn’t mean to...” Rudy stammered as he turned his head to the side. At this point, he was fully against the ground on his back. Sandra kept her body low, nearly laying on top of him completely. “I’m sorry...”

Sandra tilted her head to one side, her sneer spreading slightly. “I do hope that you learn to hold your tongue, little boy. I wouldn’t want something to happen to you later on... Wouldn’t that be so sad?”

Rudy trembled, shaking his head. “N-No..please...”

Sandra simply let out a dark chuckle. She grabbed onto his shoulders and she pushed him more firmly against the ground. She got on top of him, straddling him between her muscular legs. She looked down at his form as she lowered her body towards him. Soon it almost looked like she was laying upon him completely, almost like how a romantic couple would.

But there was nothing romantic about what she was doing with him. This was all about control. She smirked as she watched Rudy’s terrified reaction. He was trying to move his head away from her, trying to do what he could to get away. He kept whimpering softly, looking like he was trying to speak, say something, anything. But all that would come out was incoherent lines, with only a few things recognizable as Rudy spent a few seconds stammering before he finally shut up.

Sandra reached down and she pushed her hand underneath his head. She lifted it up gently and moved her face close to his once more. Her other hand moved across his shoulder, gripping it tightly and securing him in this position. She watched his facial expression for a few seconds before she pressed her cheek against his face, nuzzling him. She did this a couple of times before she proceeded to give him a long, slow lick, stretching from his neck and up along his cheek.

Rudy shuddered at this contact, his whimpering increasing. Sandra couldn’t stop her smiling at this, keeping her face lose and against him, running her hand along his arm and shoulder. She embraced Rudy with her warmth, keeping her body pressed against his. Her tail wrapped around his legs firmly. He might not be able to use them, but she wanted to make him feel even more helpless.

“So Rudy, dear...” She cooed to him as she lifted her head up so she could stare down at him. “Aren’t you going to tell me where your friends are? Where do you think they could be?”

“Well, I...” Rudy stopped when Sandra suddenly stroked a finger along his lips, causing him to stiffen and shudder.

“And do tell me the truth...” Sandra commented quietly, acting as if nothing had happened, even when Rudy looked at her with wide, confused eyes. “Remember your little promise to me.” She pressed a finger against his cheek and forced his head to turn slightly to one side. “I would hate to have to resort to more...extreme measures.”

“B-But... But you promised that you wouldn’t...” Rudy stammered.

“Yes, I said I wouldn’t hurt you. But what I’m doing to you now...” Sandra said as she stroked her fingers through Rudy’s hair. “Well, this doesn’t exactly count as hurting you, now does it?”

Rudy seemed to put two and two together quickly and his face immediately began to pale. Upon seeing that he understood exactly what she was talking about, Sandra just sneered down at him. “Now that we have that understanding..” She pushed herself even more firmly against him, putting her mouth very close to his as a threat. “...tell me exactly where you think your friends would be right about now...”

“Th-They... They would be...” Rudy stuttered, struggling to find something to say.

“Yes...?” Sandra began to move her hand along Rudy, petting him like he was some kind of dog. “Tell me exactly where you think they would be...”

Rudy turned his head to one side, shutting his eyes completely. “I don’t know... I really don’t know where they would be...I..”

Not satisfied with this answer, Sandra flatting her hand against his cheek and pushed his head back. Much to her frustration, he kept his eyes closed. Not that was going to stop her. Since he was not going to listen, she might as well just take action herself. Maybe he could be coerced into listening to her after this.

“All right then, if you don’t want to answer me...” Sandra spoke as she shifted her position on Rudy. “If you aren’t going to tell me..then perhaps we’ll just have some ‘fun’ until you do tell me the truth...”

“What?! No! Please!” Rudy squirmed underneath her, his head turning from left to right rapidly. “Y-You can’t! I...”

“And this time, how about we go a little...further than last time?” Sandra hissed at him. She grabbed onto his face, preventing him from looking away from her. “It was a little...boring last time.. How about I...spice things up a little...?”

“No...wait... I...”

Sandra did not allow him to finish. She was determined to ensure that he did not dare try to lie to her again. So without hesitation, she launched her head forward and she smacked her lips against his, cutting off any attempt for him to speak. Rudy’s eyes bulged and he muffled and struggled to get away. Sandra just held him in place, keeping her lips firmly pressed against his.

sss

Boiling blood raged on through Penny’s body. She felt her whole body start to shake hard as she struggled to control herself. Her teeth were bared and she seethed through her clenched teeth. She breathed in and out rapidly, snorting furiously as her glowering eyes stared at the screen before her.

Looking over, she could see that Mint was reacting in a similar fashion. She could see how hard his body was shaking, how he looked like he was having a hard time controlling himself. She thought for sure she could hear his heart racing against his chest. If it weren’t for the fact that there was still a stone wall in the way, he probably would have launched himself forward and tackled Sandra.

And she wouldn’t blame him if he did. What Sandra was doing right now was just...disgusting.. Never before had she imagined that she’d do something like...like this...

She couldn’t really hear what was going on. She didn’t hear their conversation beforehand. She didn’t hear what was being said. She did not know what led up to this or why Sandra was doing this. But it didn’t matter. The fact that she was messing with her friend like this... That was more than enough to warrant a punch straight in the jaw.

She then froze upon realizing something else. Her mind flashed back to Skrawl, and how they had found him so scared and frightened. She licked her lips slowly, biting her lip hard. Was this what had been done to him? Is this what had broken Skrawl?

And what of Snap? Was he..? Oh gawd...

Penny gritted her teeth tightly. Her breaths became growly and low, like she was some kind of angry stray dog. Sandra had.... She really had gone and crossed the line this time. Not only had she killed her creation, but she had done...this...to three people, two of which were her closest friends. She had been controlling them using these actions. She had...

Oh that slimy, disgusting dragon.... Oh just wait until she got her hands on her... She was going to rip her apart. She was going to make her sorry that she had ever messed with her friends. She was going to make sure that Sandra paid for what she was doing. She would see to it that she would plead for mercy.

She did manage to get those dark thoughts out of her mind, realizing that it wasn’t going to do her much good. But that didn’t stop her mind from swirling with these dark, vicious thoughts. She was not sure how much she was going to be able to control herself in Sandra’s presence in the future. Heck, her face alone felt like it was on fire, a burning sensation spreading throughout.

Mint was no better. She could tell that similar thoughts were running through his mind. His hand was clutching the chalk so tightly, it nearly broke in half. He looked like he was trying to speak, yet his voice was distorted with growls and hisses.

It didn’t matter if they couldn’t understand what was being said. Or rather, couldn’t hear what was being said. It was very obvious what Sandra was doing to Rudy. They could both see, even with the inverted contrast, the horrible, disgusting actions that Sandra had started to commit agaisnt Rudy. Sure it didn’t seem so bad at first, but if they didn’t do something quick...

Penny struggled to try to control herself. Her raging mind was not going to do either of them any good in rescuing their friend. They were going to need to try to prepare themselves. Without a plan, they...

“That...bitch...!” Mint suddenly roared, breaking Penny out of her concentration. She whipped her head over and watched with widened eyes as Mint raised up his magic chalk. “How fucking dare she... I’m going to... I’m gonna....!” He gritted his teeth and trembled as he gripped the chalk in his hand even more tightly. It was a miracle that it hadn’t busted yet.

As much as she agreed with Mint’s sentiment, she knew that now wasn’t the time for this. She leaned her self towards him and reached out, attempting to grab onto his shoulder. “Mint, we can’t...”

But Mint didn’t listen to her. He jerked himself away from her and glared at her for a few moments. Then he turned his attention to where the machine was. His body shook even harder, and it was amazing that he could even still stand up. After a few moments, he grabbed onto the machine and yanked it away from the wall, displaying an amazing feat of strength; that thing wasn’t that light. He then threw it one direction.

After tossing the large screen away, he raised up his left hand, still clutching the magic chalk tightly. Then he leaned himself forward and he started to draw quickly. Penny widened her eyes in horror upon seeing the flash of white and the materialization of an opening.

“Wait! Mint! Don’t!” Penny cried out, reaching her hand towards him. “Stay back here!”

Mint still refused to listen. He didn’t even spare her a glance this time. He just rushed through the opening as quickly as he could. Penny watched in horror for several moments. She forced herself to shake her head a few times, trying to refocus herself. She soon raced after him, hoping to stop Mint before he did anything stupid.

But when she reached the other side, she realized that she had been too late.

Mint was already upon Sandra. The dragon zoner, who still laid upon Rudy, finishing another kiss, did not have much time react before Mint shouted at her, “Get away from my friend, you monster!”

“What the...” Sandra looked over just in time to see a fist fill her vision. Then there was a loud thud and she was knocked away. She stumbled backwards and she landed on her back heavily. She laid there for several moments before looking up at Mint, her eyes wide in shock. “How did...”

Mint didn’t bother letting her finish. With his teeth bared and his eyes narrowed, he launched himself at the evil blue dragon. Penny watched this in utter horror, frozen in the spot. Then she turned her head and noticed Rudy. She licked her lips a little, and then she rushed to his aid.


	40. Down

I’m falling... falling faster!  
-Breathe Into Me, Red

sss

Boiling crimson red.

A burning sensation against his skin.

Screeches of pain, flashes of blue.

That was all that Mint could sense in that moment. He had all but lost any feeling of reality. He could hardly keep track of just where he was, and a part of him wasn’t even aware of his exact location. He had forgotten just what had brought him to his situation.

Not that he cared. The only thing on his mind right now was Sandra. Even just saying her name was enough to make his blood boil over and he struggled so hard not to let out a loud scream of rage.

Below him, he had a hold of her. She was squirming about on the ground, her tail thrashing from side to side. Mint wrapped his fingers around her neck and held down hard. He applied a constant pressure there, trying to dig his fingers against them as much as possible, driving his nails practically into the skin. Sandra had grabbed onto him and tried to push him back, but his adrenaline-fueled rage made it impossible for her to make him let go.

“You monster! How fucking dare you!” Mint managed to say through gritted teeth. He locked eyes with Sandra’s, which, for one of the rare times in her life, filled with fear. “I am going to make you pay for what you have done!”

“S-Stop this! Please!” Sandra cried out to him in clear desperation.

Mint could feel his blood heating up even more at this, practically burning the lining of his stomach. He was surprised that he was able to prevent himself from vomiting, both from that and from what Sandra said. How dare she try to plead with him now... She had opportunities in the past to stop what she was doing, and she still did it anyway. Why in the world should he show mercy on her now?

Without bothering to hesitate, Mint raised his fist and he struck her against her forehead as hard as he could. Sandra’s eyes bulged and she let out a cry of pain. This hadn’t been the first time that he had struck her in that rather sensitive area, right on her triangular mark. This was the first time, though, that he had brought her to tears with that blow. He could see the tears streaming down the corner of her face as she looked up at him in utter fear.

He wasn’t sure how long this was going to last. Surely she would start to fight back eventually. This was only a temporary state. So he had to use whatever time that he had with her now to teach her a lesson. He doubted anything he did to her was going to get through to her in any shape or form. But he knew he had to try. Even if not for that, then to get revenge for Rudy.

When he had seen what Sandra was doing to him...

The first thing that he had become aware of was shock and horror. Disbelief that something like this was happening to his friend. He then felt that strange sensation from before, back in the city. Only this time, it was more tinged with bitterness, from the fact that Rudy was being wrongfully hurt.

In that moment, he knew he couldn’t just remain silent. He felt this overwhelming need to go and do something. But it was different from Penny’s. Even in his rage-filled state, he was able to recall that Penny wanted to hang back and plan things out better. Whereras Mint... As soon as he had seen red, he just had to take action. No pausing, no hesitation. Just do.

And that’s what he was doing now. Though he realized just what his actions might cost them, a part of him was too grimly satisfied with beating up Sandra to really fully acknowledge the issues that may be brought on due to his actions.

Sandra kicked a leg out at him again. He winced as he felt the talons rake against his side. He jerked and nearly fell in that direction. But he was able to stop himself and he glared down hatefully at Sandra, gritting his teeth tightly. He gave her yet another blow to the triangular mark and he thought for sure he could see it begin to bruise. He wondered if he managed to hinder her ability to use her powers for the time being.

Sandra tightened her grip on his arm and she began to tug him forward. Mint was caught off guard by this motion and he couldn’t stop himself from being forced close to Sandra’s head. Before he realized what was happening, Sandra opened her mouth and bit down onto his face. The feeling of sharp teeth raked along his skin, blood dripping down. Mint let out a scream of pain and jolted himself back, eventually managing to escape this attack.

However, it had already done its damage. He couldn’t stop himself from holding onto his face, feeling the stinginess spreading throughout it. This gave Sandra ample time to strike at him again. Before he knew it, something long and thick struck against him and he found himself hitting the ground painfully.

As he groaned and struggled to get up, he could hear a sliding sound behind him, a bit of scraping, and he knew that Sandra was on her feet again. He could hear her letting out a small snarl, a snort, and he thought for sure he heard her start to approach him.

“Well well... That was quite a surprise...” Sandra spoke, any shred of fear from before completely gone. “Quite an impressive feat, dear creator... Quite the shame that you did not think that through...”

Mint gulped nervously as he flipped himself over and tried to walk away, using that crab walk that schools often had children do. This did not do well for him to get away quickly, though, and Sandra was able to catch up to him rather quickly. She easily towered over him with him on the ground. She leaned herself forward and she grabbed onto his shoulders, peering closely at him.

“Just what did you think you were doing, anyway?” Sandra spoke, her voice low and dark. “Did you think that you would accomplish anything? You foolish human.” She raised her head up slightly. “I would have thought that you’d be smarter than that... After all, you are my creator.”

One of her creators, yes. But Mint didn’t bother trying to correct her on that. He just kept himself pushed back against the ground, trying to put in some distance between him and the deranged dragon before him.

Mint momentarily turned his head to the side and looked over at where Penny was. At the moment, she was holding onto Rudy, whose clothes were a bit torn up. Rudy was cuddling up against Penny, though looked surprisingly...unresponsive was the only word he could think to describe it. It was like...he was there, but then he was not there. Like he was in a whole other world altogether at that point.

Poor Rudy... Even with Penny trying to comfort him, it didn’t seem like he was responding much to it at all. He was trembling and whimpering, holding onto her, but he hardly did anything else. Mint wished he could go over there and try to help him feel better. But right now, he was just...unable to move. A roughly tightened grip on his shoulder reminded him of why.

“I can see the look in your eyes... You want to help your little friends, don’t you?” Sandra asked, her mouth spreading back and up in a vicious smile. “I do wonder how well you could try. You wouldn’t even be able to use your magic chalk with me staring at you, right? Because at any moment...I could do...this!”

Without warning, Sandra had activated her super healing powers. Mint’s whole body stiffened up and he took in a sharp, pained breath. He barely could emit any kind of scream; it was as though his breath was taken away. A sharp, swirling pain surged throughout his body. He grunted and gritted his teeth, trying not to give into the pain. But it was so hard. It felt like someone stuck extra sharp needles in his body and were pulling them every which way.

Sandra just sneered at him as she did this, a dark laugh exiting her mouth. She showed no expression of mercy for him. She was obviously relishing in all of this, her mouth contorted in twisted glee. She kept her hold on him like this for several moments, enjoying his painful squirming, before she finally decided to release him. She listened to him pant heavily, showing nothing but a smirk as he glared at her.

“So tell me, my little creator... Just what were you trying to do?” Sandra tilted her head to the side. “I am quite curious! I know you were trying to save your little friend, right?” She motioned her head to where Rudy was still being held by Penny. “You were trying to save him from me, but now you have two friends to save...”

Mint widened his eyes as he saw Sandra start to focus her attention on Penny. A cold rush of fear wracked through his body. “Wait... You’re not...”

Sandra paused, turning her head a little so that she could stare over at him. “What’s it to you, anyway? Not like you could stop me from striking in a more...vital place.” Mint’s eyes widened in horror at this. Sandra exposed her teeth in a sharp grin. “You know... I never thought to strike the brain before.. What do you think will happen if I damage the connections with Penny’s frontal lobe...”

Mint shook his head rapidly. “Please! Don’t!”

“Oh no? Then what if Rudy’s? Oh!” Sandra raised her finger up. “Perhaps I should target his hippocampus?”

Mint gasped in horror at this.

“Yes, what do you think would happen if I tried that?” Sandra chuckled wickedly. “I do have to wonder..” She looked over at Rudy once more before she turned and sneered down at Mint. “I’ve always wondered about that... Shall I give it a try?”

“No...leave him alone!” Mint shouted at her. “Leave my friends alone!”

Sandra laughed at this before looking down at him with one eye. “I might have promised that I wouldn’t hurt Rudy, but...messing with his hippocampus doesn’t count. Though I hadn’t made the same promise about Penny...”

Mint could feel his heart pounding against his chest. “Please...you can’t...”

“Oh I know what I can do!” Sandra gained a rather terrifying smile, more so than the ones she had used in the past. “How about you decide for me?”

“Wh-What...?”

“You heard me...” Sandra hissed at him. “Choose...”

“B-But...I can’t... I mean...” Mint struggled to figure out something to say, his mind racing inside his head. Sandra couldn’t... She couldn’t possibly... “I can’t choose!”

Sandra chuckled at this. “Oh you better choose, my dear creator. Because if you don’t...” She pointed a finger in Penny and Rudy’s direction. And what she said next caused his blood to turn into burning ice. “...I will mess with both of their brains...”

sss

Remaining in absolute control... Watching as her victim squirmed... Feeling the air fill with the scent of fear...

All of those combined brought great enjoyment to the dragon zoner. This is exactly what her stupid creator deserved for interrupting her. If he had been watching the entire time, he would have known that she wasn’t actually going to hurt Rudy. She was just playing with them. That was all. There was no need to get all antsy about it.

Okay so she did understand on some level why he attacked. She acknowledged that her..advances might not have been appropriate. Still, Mint could have just waited like a good little boy. Attacking her was utterly foolish.

The absolute only reason why she didn’t attack Rudy was because of her promise earlier. During this session, he was off limits. She was one for keeping promises, taking them very seriously. She would never forgive herself if she hurt him when it wasn’t yet time. And by hurt, she had meant physically, though she probably did not specify that with Rudy too much.

However, her creator, along with Penny, did not have such limitations. She could do whatever she wanted to them. She had never promised not to hurt them. If she really wanted to, she could tear them apart so they could never bother her again. She had intended on killing them before, after all.

So...why did she feel so..hesitant to do that now? Why wasn’t she trying to hurt them more? She did do a bit of a number on her creator, but even then..she had held back. She was perplexed by this, but she didn’t think too much of it. She decided to chalk it up to her just still being stunned on how they survived. It was a puzzle she was still trying to figure out. All she knew for certain is that it had something to do with Rudy.

She watched as Mint struggled underneath her, not just physically but mentally as well. He was attempting to push back against her, his hands against her body. His legs were kicking out, his prosthetic clanging each time it hit against the ground, making her flinch slightly. She was able to prevent herself from being pushed back, though she wasn’t entirely sure how long she could keep this up.

Mint was not even looking at her anymore. His eyes were shut tightly, head turned to the side. He seethed through clenched teeth as he struck out frantically against her, doing whatever he could to make her get off of him. Sandra hissed at some of the slaps, punches, and strikes that he tried.

He did stammer a little. Nothing all that coherent. He was probably trying to say many things at once, but couldn’t bring himself to speak a full sentence. Terror was obviously on his mind, his body trembling hard. If his sentences actually completed, he would probably be pleading with her to let his friends go.

But of course, she had never actually planned to hurt them like that to begin with. She had only said that to make her creator squirm. She wanted to see just how he reacted to the threat. She wanted him to be helpless, to be pleading with her, try to make her stop. All just so that she could teach him a lesson about rude interruptions.

Besides, not like he could do much to stop her, anyway. She was not lying when she said that she could deal a lot of damage to them easily within a few moments. She didn’t need that long to do something. She just had to toy with the right area of the brain and she could stop all function. It wasn’t as easy to accomplish as her usual methods, like rupture blood vessels. But she could still do it, and deal at least enough damage to make it fatal.

She wasn’t really sure how long she was going to watch her creator struggle like this. She hadn’t really lost that much interest. It still filled her heart with....something to see him like this. She felt so powerful..so in control... She felt...safe.

Yes, safe was the word that she’d use. She had often feared losing control of her situation. She was alone in this world filled with sinners. To have even a small amount of control was rewarding. But to have complete and utter influence over three other people... Well that was just getting juicy. She could only image what would happen if she were to gain control over ChalkZone City....

She froze at that thought. She remained unmoving for several moments before her eyes suddenly flickered at the realization. Now there was an idea.... Not exactly what she originally had in mind. But...

“W-Wait! Please...don’t!” Mint pleaded with her, staring at her with wide, horrified eyes. “D-Don’t hurt them! Please! They didn’t do anything!”

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. She was annoyed that her creator decided to interrupt her train of thought. But she decided to shrug it off. There would be time for planning later. “Oh no? I would beg to differ. They are both guilty.” Sandra turned her head and she glared over at the other two humans. Rudy was not looking at her while Penny was offering a glare. She just gave a quick ‘heh’ sound before she commented, “Rudy dared to break a promise and Penny? She didn’t have the appropriate response. She still sticks by that rotten promise maker like it didn’t even matter...”

Sandra’s mind burned at the memory of that. She still could not believe that Penny was still willing to defend Rudy even after what she had done to him. She could feel ther blood bringing itself to a boil. It took her a few moments before she could force it to simmer down.

But Penny was not the only one who had that unthinkable belief. Looking down at Mint, she seethed at him, exposing her sharp teeth. For whatever reason, he was like-minded like that. He, too, didn’t see anything wrong with Rudy’s slanderous promise breaking. This was a realization that left her in a confused state whenever she thought of it. How could her own creator neglect the sanctity of the promise?

“You are no different... I’ve seen you try to defend him before.” Sandra tilted her head to one side. Gripping Mint’s shoulder tightly with one hand, she raised up the other in gesture, motioning it to the side. “Did it ever occur to you what could happen if someone breaks a promise? Did you not think of the consequences?” She moved herself a little closer. “How can you trust him again after he broke a promise?”

Mint narrowed his eyes at her, clearly struggling to look brave. But in the end, he was faltering, and his voice remained quite shaky. “H-He’s my friend... I care about him... I would never allow something so petty to...”

“Petty?! Is that what you think?!” Sandra shouted, her voice booming. Mint grimaced at this, moving himself back away from her. Sandra seethed as she glared down towards her creator, her mouth open and panting, a growly edge to it. “Why you little...!”

Sandra raised a fist back, preparing to strike at Mint. The human squirmed and writhed underneath her as he tried to get away. She glared at this for several moments, but then she eventually managed to settle herself down. She paused in her current position, stiffening her body up for a moment, before she managed to force herself to relax. Exhaling slowly, she lowered her hand down, letting it rest at her side.

“Very well then... I suppose I can’t change your mind...at the moment, anyway.” Sandra looked down at Mint with partially open eyes. A smile tugged at the corners of her mouth. “And since you can obviously speak again, have you...made your decision...?”

Mint’s eyes widened in horror. “You seriously want me to... No..I-I can’t do that!” He gritted his teeth in fear, struggling to free himself. “P-Please! You can’t make me choose between...” He paused for a moment, as though realizing the trick that she might have pulled if given the chance. “...them. Please..I...”

Sandra just smiled down at him. She gave a sideways glance to Rudy and Penny. She had no fears regarding Rudy and Penny....well while she did have magic chalk with her, it was unlikely that she’d use it against her. Not while she had her other little friend at her full mercy. She turned her pupils back down to Mint.

She remained silent for a few moments, just allowing Mint to squirm underneath her, constantly pleading with her. It was amazing just how fast she had reduced him to this state when she had threatened Penny and Rudy. He must really care about them. Heck, they all cared about each other. They had quite the bond. In some ways, it made her feel jealous. She sometimes wished that she had that sort of bond with someone in this world. Sure she had a shot with these three, as well as Snap, before, but the whole promise thing.... She couldn’t tell if she could trust them after that point.

So...just what she going to do with these three? She did have fun toying with them, but she did need to take action soon. She still had further plans with Snap, and she also needed to figure out just how she was going to make sure that Mint and Penny didn’t try to interrupt her anymore. Hmm...what could she do to prevent them from being problematic in the future without killing them? She could get it done and over with, but honestly, she was starting to think she’d get more use out of them while they were still alive.

After all, they could be two new ways for her to keep Snap and Rudy in check. If they feared that something could happen to their pitiful friends...

Suddenly, before she could make another move, she felt something sharp hitting against her shoulder. She hissed as she looked down at her shoulder, trying to see what had hit her. The pain was on her neck, she realized quickly. She reached up and she grabbed onto the object and yanked it out. She looked down at it, holding it in her hand.

A needle? She narrowed her eyes at it the object in confusion. She could still see a bit of fluid in there, and she smelled a tinge of blood, suggesting that it had penetrated pretty deeply inside of her neck. Rubbing the sore area with her hand, she looked over, following where she felt the trajectory was, looking for the source of that attack.

Her eyes widened upon seeing Penny. The girl was sitting up more straight than before. While one hand was still around Rudy’s body, she could see that the other hand had quickly drawn something while she wasn’t looking. Sandra realized that she should have been more vigilant. Now Penny was armed with what looked like a gun. She flattened her ears and gritted her teeth. If she wanted a fight...

Wait...that was not a gun. At least, not a normal one. It shot out needles. It had to be a...

Before Sandra could fully realize what had happened, she started to sway back and forth. All of a sudden, she just started to feel very...weak. Not fully there. Her head began to spin around in circles, her vision becoming wavy and blurry as she struggled to remain on her feet. She tried to keep her eyes open. This was becoming less and less possible with how her eyelids kept growing heavy, a burning sensation being felt in the back of her eyes.

Then her legs gave out underneath her, splaying to one side. She looked over at where the humans were. At this point, her vision was just too wonky. She could just barely make out any kind of shape and color. Her vision faded in and out, becoming rapidly darker. She opened her mouth, trying to say something, anything at them. But all she could do was hiss and gurgle softly, her drool dripping down the sides of her stiffening jaw.

Then she collapsed down completely. Her chin hit the ground and she flinched as she felt her teeth slice into her tongue. She let out a soft whimper. She once more looked over to watch the shapes that she knew were the humans fleeing. Then her eyes shut completely and, at least for the time being, she was surrounded by dark silence.

sss

“Why are we running?!” Mint called out, panting heavily. “She’s unconscious! We should...”

Penny looked over her shoulder, glaring at him. “We didn’t have time!”

Mint couldn’t help but stare at her in confusion. Just what the heck was she talking about? “But...with her out cold, don’t you think we had at least some time to...”

Penny shook her head. “Unfortunately no. Remember, Mint. She has super healing powers. She could easily reverse the effects of the tranquilizer quickly. I doubt she’ll be down for that long. Maybe about thirty seconds at best guess.”

Mint widened his eyes at this. “Oh...”

Penny turned her head away, returning her attention to what was in front of her. “So just keep going! We need to take this chance to get out of here!”

“But where are we...” Mint tried to ask.

“Through the opening we came through! We just need to barricade it with a new wall and that should buy us a little time!” Penny called back to him.

That worked for him. At least that target was very close by. He and Penny had not actually strayed too far from that location. He could see that opening that he created right up ahead. It would only take them..not even a minute to get over there.

Behind him, as he looked over his shoulder for a moment, he could see that Sandra was still collapsed into the ground. She did not look fully unconscious, however. Instead, she looked more like she had just been sent into a sleepy state. Her eyes were closed, but he could see her eyelids moving, indicating that she might open them up at any point. He soon realized just why Penny was so interested in getting away from here. All Sandra would have to do is see them and...

Feeling his heart pumping against his chest, Mint pushed himself to go faster. He moved as quickly as he could over to where the opening was. It took a little while and he could feel his tongue hanging out as he desperately tried to reach the destination. But soon, much to his relief, he and Penny had made it through.

Turning around quickly, since Penny was carrying Rudy, Mint flicked his left wrist around and drew a rocky wall, covering the hole that was just made. He and Penny, with Rudy, headed down further into the hallway afterwards. They stopped about ten feet away and Mint created yet another wall. Maybe over excessive, but at least, for now, they were safe.

He winced when a bright light illuminated the hallway. He turned his head to see that Penny had created a small yet bright light source. She set it down at her side, one arm still holding onto Rudy. Mint took this moment to look down the hallway.

He couldn’t really see much. The hallway extended quite far down, though he thought he could see at least two dark areas where a new tunnel formed. There was more stoniness, which made it obvious they were still high up, despite all their moving around. He also thought he could see what appeared to be a bit of wiring, though why that would be there, he didn’t know. Upon closer inspection, he realized they weren’t wires; just small bits of cobweb, strewn so thick they just appeared to be wires. Well that made more sense, considering Sandra...

He felt a flash of anger at the name of that wretched zoner. He was able to keep himself from becoming too angry, but he still could not believe that Sandra had...

Letting out an exasperated sigh, he looked down at Rudy, watching as he whimpered softly and cuddled up against Penny. He felt a small pang at this, his lower lip curling down in absolutely worry and fear for his friend. Just...how badly was this going to affect him mentally? It was bad enough that Sandra captured him. Did she really have to...do that...to him..?

He shook his head, trying to get the horrible image out of his head. He couldn’t focus too much of his time thinking about that. Right now, he had to help Penny settle Rudy down. The poor guy could easily go into a panic attack unless they did something quickly. They couldn’t even tell if he realized that they were with him; what if he saw them as his enemies somehow?

Biting his lip, Mint made his way over to Rudy’s side. He stopped about three feet away. Penny sensed his presence and she looked up at him, giving him a sad expression. She then looked down at Rudy, continuing to cradle him in her arms. She stroked his hair gently, though this act seemed to make Rudy cringe. Despite the fact that he had been happy to see them earlier, it was clear that the sudden moving around, as well as hearing Sandra screeching, may have triggered...something. It was imperative that they settle Rudy down and fast.

But thankfully, this did not seem to be required. Despite Rudy’s reactions earlier, he was able to settle himself down quickly. It happened almost as soon as Mint had gotten into Rudy’s field of vision. His presence, in combination with Penny’s, had such a soothing reaction to Rudy. He settled down completely, becoming somewhat limp in Penny’s arms.

Mint smiled at this. He was glad to see that Rudy was able to calm down. He lowered himself to the ground and settled himself next to Penny. He reached over and he held onto Rudy’s hand, gently squeezing it.

“What...what do you think we’re going to do?” Mint asked after a few moments of silence. “We need to get out of here, but..”

“...but we can’t let Sandra get away.” Penny said, her eyes narrowing.

“What do you think we’re going to do about that?” Mint asked. He watched Penny with a hopeful expression. “Do you have any ideas?”

Penny sighed and she looked over at him, her face contorted in self frustration. She shook her head slowly. “I’m sorry... But..I don’t have any ideas at the moment...”

Mint sighed at this, lowering his head. “It figures...” He looked upwards, his eyes focusing on nothingness. “I do hope we can figure out something soon. I...” He stopped when he felt something grab onto his arm. He looked down and he could see Penny’s hand there. He looked down at Penny, who gave him a soft smile.

“Don’t worry... We will. I can promise you that.” Penny spoke, trying to sound as assuring as possible.

Mint smiled back, wanting to believe her. But a part of him couldn’t help but feel a tinge of worry in the pit of his stomach. He couldn’t help but wonder just how they were going to achieve their goal. If they could not stop Sandra....

No, they would succeed. Sandra could not be allowed to succeed.

sss

So scared and so frightened... Rudy had felt this way before. But never quite like this. It was at that sort of level where it just feels so...surreal. Like..he couldn’t even tell if this was reality or not. Was he dreaming? Was he awake? He almost couldn’t tell.

He was only partially aware of his surroundings. He knew he was not locked up anymore. He was away from...that place. He was in some kind of...tunnel? Corridor? Some hidden hallway? Either way, he was somewhere that was kind of dark and yet kind of light at the same time. He could almost feel the walls that were surrounding him in all directions start to come in closer.

He couldn’t help but flinch, as though he was going to get crushed to death. It took his whirling mind a little while to process that he was not in any danger. And took a little longer for him to fully realize that he was not alone in here. A surging warmth revealed to him that he was being held by someone.

Penny.

Rudy looked up at his female friend, who stared right back at him, her expression contorted in concern. To see her again... Rudy recalled how Sandra mocked him about their ‘deaths’. How she had tried to tear apart his hope, tried to make them believe that they were dead.

And he had almost believed her... Much to Rudy’s disgust and shock against his own self, he had almost fully trusted Sandra’s word on that. He had almost... He gritted his teeth and lowered his head slightly. How could he have thought such a thing? How could he have allowed himself to believe what Sandra had been saying? He couldn’t believe that...

And Penny was not the only one here. He looked over and he could see Mint there as well. He had bent himself a little so that he could look at him in the eyes. Mint shared a similar worried look as Penny, and Rudy could feel another warmth as Mint gripped his hand gently, cradling it.

Rudy had known for a short time that they were alive. But seeing it for himself, it was still quite shocking. He had been so worried of the possibility that they might dead that... To see them still alive and well, to see that Sandra had been wrong about them.... He could feel a few tears start to form in his eyes. He let out a soft, small cry, the tears beginning to stream down his face. For them to be here with him...

“Rudy...what’s wrong...?” Mint asked.

“It’s okay, Rudy. You are safe...” Penny cooed softly to him.

To hear those voices again, Rudy couldn’t help but give a small, shaky smile. He was almost tempted to just pinch himself. He...He had to be dreaming, right? There was just no way that is could be reality. It was just some sort of cruel dream, and then he’d wake up and... Oh gawd, he did not want to wake up. He wanted to remain here, in Penny’s arms, seeking out his friends’ comfort. If he were to wake up, he hoped it would be in bad, back at home...

His heart immediately tightened at that thought. Home... He had almost forgotten about that. Just how long had he and his friends been in ChalkZone? Did their parents find out they were missing? He took in a few shaky breaths, his heart starting to speed up. If his parents...

“Rudy! Please...don’t work yourself up...” Penny spoke to him gently. She wrapped her arms more firmly around his trembling body, pullding him closer. Rudy struggled and squirmed in her grasp, but he did not put up a fight for too long.

When Rudy started to settle down, Mint moved in a little closer, reaching out with his hand and placing it on his back in a comforting manner. “You’re safe with us. It’s okay. Sandra’s not going to hurt you anymore..”

Rudy’s eyes bulged at that. His worried thoughts about his parents was overlapped by what Sandra had done. His whole body, once relaxed, had suddenly stiffened up. He couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe. He could only just...remain frozen in place, his mouth open and panting. Memories began to flash through the back of his mind, and then he could start feeling the sensation of Sandra...

“N-No! Don’t! Leave me alone!” Rudy called out loudly, unable to stop the growing fear inside of him. He had to get away. He had to get to safety. He couldn’t allow Sandra another chance to... “Let me go! Please let me go!” He cried out as he jerked himself from side to side, struggling to free himself from what he percieved to be Sandra’s grasp.

The grip only tightened around him even more. This caused him to struggle even harder, letting out loud shouts of fear and horror, trying to do whatever he could to escape. He couldn’t let Sandra do that to him again. Of all the things.. No, he didn’t want that. Oh gawd, he didn’t want that...

Then, all of a sudden, he was surrounded by warmth. More warmth than before. It caved in all around him. He became aware of something solid up against him. He became aware of soft whispering and gentle words. His whole body stiffened again like before, only this time he managed to make it relax. Realization slowly dawned on him. Upon realizing just what he had been doing, Rudy felt a tinge of guilt strike him. He couldn’t stop himself from shedding a few tears.

His friends didn’t judge him, however. Of course they wouldn’t. They actually care about him. Sandra...did not. She had used him. Wanted to control him... But Penny and Mint did care about him. He was in their company, not Sandra’s. He slowly felt himself relaxing further, and he leaned against Penny for further comfort. Mint, who had moved in front behind, pressed himself forward a little more, helping him to remain secured between their warm bodies.

“Shh... It’s all right, Rudy... It’s okay now...” Penny told him in a soothing voice. She gently ran her fingers through Rudy’s hair. “Everything will be all right now.”

Mint gently ran his hand up and down Rudy’s back where he could. He leaned himself a little closer, allowing Rudy to hear his voice better. “You won’t have to worry about Sandra anymore. We won’t let her get to you again. We promise.”

The mention of Sandra’s name did make Rudy stiffen up, his blood running cold. He could feel himself start to whimper a little, his eyes going wide. It took him a few moments before he could bring himself to settle down, exhaling slowly. He managed to lift his head up and he looked over at his friends. “Th-Thank you...”

They smiled back at him. That alone helped him to feel even more safe, even more secure. They remained silent for several moments, just smiling at each other like this. It was quite..comforting.

But the comfort didn’t last too long. As his panicky mind finally began to settle down further, as he finally seemed to full yrealize that yes, he was safe, something else started to come to mind. He started to recall that earlier thought that he had, regarding his parents. They were not the only ones, either. Mint and Penny’s parents, along with anyone else that they knew...

He realized that he and his friends had been in ChalkZone for an unusually long amount of time. He had fully lost track of the time completely. There had been so much that they had to do.... He could no longer remember just how long they had been stuck in here, trying to deal with Sandra. The fact that he was getting pretty hungry and thirsty suggested that it had to have been a while. But...just how long had they been trapped in here...?

He already knew right off the bat that his family must be worried sick at this point. And so where the other adults. He could just picture it all in his head. Their parents arguing and crying and debating and doing whatever they could to ensure that they would find their children. But nothing they did was going to help. Nothing they did was going to help them find where they were.

A part of Rudy felt grateful that their parents wouldn’t find out about ChalkZone. But on the other hand, if they were to become stuck in this world, none of their folks would know what happened to them. Rudy didn’t know which scenario could be worse: more humans learning about ChalkZone, or their folks having to live out the rest of their lives never knowing what happened to their children.

Both were such terrifying scenarios, causing Rudy’s gut to twist, making him feel like he was going to throw up. In the end, he knew that keeping this world secret was a higher priority. But still... He was not entirely sure if allowing his parents to never find out how he did was a good trade off. They were his family after all...

“Rudy, what’s wrong?” Mint asked. “You look so...so pale...”

Rudy looked up at Mint, his eyes locking onto his. He struggled to think of what he could say. But for a short time, he just...couldn’t bring himself to say anything. He wasn’t entirely sure why. There was just..something about those eyes that was making it hard for him to speak.

Instead, it was Penny who decided to speak up. “He’s still shaken up. It’s going to take him a long time to recover from...that...”

Mint’s face contorted into one of rage. “If I ever get my hands on her, I’ll...”

Penny reached over and touched his shoulder. “I know, Mint...” Her voice was tinged in anger. Despite all appearances, she was just as rage-filled as the boy. “But..we need to concentrate on getting out of here...”

Mint’s rage melted away, replaced with concern. He lifted his head and he began to look around. “I’m not even sure how we can get out of here...” He murmured softly. “Oh, I wish we hadn’t lost that map...”

Rudy felt his heart twist at that. He recalled how they had lost the map earlier. But that wasn’t the only thing on his mind. He couldn’t keep silent about it for long. He had to bring up this issue, because it is something that they need to think about as well.

Sure, there were other things going on. Sure they had other things to worry about. But...when were they going to get another chance like this again? Knowing their luck, Sandra was going to find some way to separate them again. This could be their one and only chance to talk about this. The sooner they did, the better prepared they could be.

“Wh-What about our families...?” Rudy spoke up, his voice soft and quiet. Rudy noticed how Mint and Penny froze and looked down at him. He could see just how shocked they looked, their emotions practically permeating through him. “What..what do you think they....?”

He couldn’t finish. There was no need to finish. Mint and Penny knew exactly what he was going to say. The two of them exchanged looks of horror, silence becoming thick in the air, almost like some kind of fog that had come in on them. All three of them remained quiet, not daring to talk. They simply just looked at one another, each of their minds racing inside their heads.

And each of them kept asking themselves various questions. What were they going to do? How were they going to go about it? What would they be able to do about this particular situation?

But the biggest question of all...

Should they escape, what were they going to tell their parents...?

sss

Sandra let out a groan as she opened up her eyes. Her vision was dark and blurry, and it almost seemed like everything was black and white. She raised her head up, holding her hand against it. She gritted her teeth as she let out a soft groan. She shook her head once as she pushed herself up more.

She pressed her back at an angle, almost like she was trying to form the letter U. She could hear a small crack there, and a wave of relief swept through her. She stretched out her legs more, hissing through her clenched teeth. She scratched along her arm a bit as she brought herself up to her feet, wobbling slightly from side to side.

For a few minutes, she couldn’t really remember what had gone on. She wasn’t fully aware of what happened previously, or what she was even here. She looked left and right slowly, her eyes slowly blinking as she took in the sights all around her. She opened her mouth and let out a small yawn, her tongue curling backwards, her eyes shutting tightly as a bit of tears began to flow down from the force of the yawn.

If she didn’t know any better, she’d say that she was just waking up from a nap. But...she was not one to take a nap. She distinctly remembered she didn’t fall asleep. She had no memory of that. But then, how did she end up like that? There had to be something that...

Then she felt the pain in her shoulder. she couldn’t help but flinch, sucking in a sharp breath. She immediately placed her hand over her shoulder, holding it there firmly, slightly tightening her grip. She gritted her teeth and seethed for several moments, trying to cope with the pain. After a few moments, she moved her hand away and she looked down at that one particular spot.

It was just a small puncture wound. From the looks of it, she wondered why it hurt so badly. It didn’t look as bad as, say, a bee sting, and even that wasn’t really all that much. So why did it hurt so badly? She pressed a finger against it, applying pressure. She seethed, and realized that somehow the wound must have gotten infected.

But just how did she get this wound in the first place?

A flash of white struck across her mind and she froze in place. Her mouth dropped open as she gasped in utter shock.

It was those humans... They were the ones responsible...

She remembered now. She had been trying to deal with Mint when, out of nowhere, she felt something sharp hit her against her shoulder. She had nearly jumped into the air, nearly lost her balance entirely, as she suddenly remembered just how it all happened.

It was Penny, wasn’t it? Yes, she was starting to remember even more now. Penny had drawn a tranquilizer gun while she was trying to have her fun with Mint. She had aimed the gun at her and she had...

Sandra gritted her teeth tightly, seeing through them. Why that little brat... How dare she try something so... This was just plain cheating. Well, if she wanted to play it that way... she supposed she could play along. A dark smile spread across her face at the thought of it. She turned her head down the hallway, where she believed they must have ran off. She gave a couple dark chortles as she imagined just what she do to them.

Well if they wanted to play sneaky, then perhaps she shall play sneaky right back at them. They would expect her to go find them. They would think that she would attempt to round them off. But on the other hand, they would also believe that she would attempt to plan something out, to set up a trap and have them be lured into it.

But instead, she figured she’d try something else. Something that was, in her mind, nothing short of genius.

She’d do...nothing.

Well, not entirely nothing. She could set something up to emit...what did they call them... infrasound? Yes, she could set something like that up to increase their tension. But other than that, nothing.

It would seem crazy. Like...anyone looking at her would wonder just why she wasn’t going to do something more extreme, like actually chase after them. But she already knew how terrified they were. What she did to Rudy alone was enough to make them all quite scared. Then there was the fact that they were still trapped in here and had no idea where to go. They must not be thinking all that straight and they would be more prone to...doing something quite crazy.

A malicious smile spread across her face. She would let them run a frenzy on their own. She would allow them to...essentially capture themselves. It would be so much more satisfying, wouldn’t it? To have them screw things up and they end up getting caught due to their own stupidity.

But even after she managed to get them recaptured, what was she going to do? She frowned deeply at this. That was something that she still needed to consider. She already knew what she was going to do with Rudy and Snap. But she still needed to figure....something out for Mint and Penny.

Should she still stick to her previous plan? Of holding them hostage to force Rudy and Snap into submission? Or should she try something else? It did seem rather...predictable that she do things that way. Though predictable or not, it was a method that she knew would work.

Hmm...or would it? What if that method would only increase their desire to escape? It could work for a time. She wasn’t doubting that. But if she wasn’t careful....

Oh well, she did have quite a bit of time to decide. She needed to at least get them all secured. That much she knew. Once she managed to catch them, then she could decide just what she was going to do with them. Perhaps she could toy with them a little first while she tried to figure something out. Yes, that did sound quite tempting after what they had put her throught. She couldn’t help but give a dark, twisted smirk.

She let out a groan as she felt a wave of dizziness strike her. She nearly collapsed into the ground as she struggled to control her dizziness. She held onto her head and seethed through her clenched teeth. It would seem that she was not yet ready to be moving about just yet. She was going to need to rest for a short time. But not for too long. She couldn’t allow them a chance to escape from her.

Once she managed to overcome that sudden bout of dizziness, she shook her head, raising her body into a somewhat parallel yet slanted stance. She remained like this for several moments, her arms hanging at her sides. She took in a few slow, heavy breaths. Then she shook herself once. She lifted her head up and looked down in another direction.

Well, she probably should get started.

sss

Mint let out a sigh as he and Penny continued walking down the hallway. None of them had any idea of where it could lead. But even so, walking down this way seemed like a better option than just laying around, doing nothing. Especially if their parents...

Mint flinched at the memory. He and his friends didn’t have much time to discuss the parent thing. But he did know that Rudy had brought up a very valid fear. None of them had realized just how long they had been stuck in this world. And as much as they cared about it, they did have to find some way to leave...

At least for a little while. They would come back as soon as they could. But their folks were likely very worried about them by this point. No doubt about it. And his own dad, well... He could only imagine just what he was going to say about his prolonged absence... He tried not to think about it too much.

But though they had wanted to discuss it, Penny suggested they keep moving forward. The longer they stayed in one spot, the more likel it was going to be for Sandra to find them. Considering their situation, that was not something that any of them really wanted. It was rather frustrating, going out without any sort of plan. But what choice did they have? Penny was right. For all they knew, Sandra was coming for them right now.

He shuddered at the memory of her. He knew that he shouldn’t let it control him. Not now, not in this situation. But he couldn’t help it. There was no way that he could be able to dismiss what Sandra did so easily. He wasn’t sure if he could control himself the next time that he saw her. Would he be able to hold back or would he release his fury?

Oh why was he even asking himself that? He already knew what he’d do. And the memory made his gut twist. It might have been satisfying at first, but his wreckless actions could have cost so much more. If only he had listened to Penny, they might have figured out a rescue plan and they could be getting out of here with less trouble and... Oh why didn’t he listen?

Well it was too late for that now. At least they were moving along smoothly. If they could keep this up and stay hidden, they might be able to find their way out before Sandra could...

He paused himself when he felt something moving around against him. He looked down and he could see Rudy trying to get comfortable in his arms. Mint adjusted himself a little, trying to help Rudy in a more comfortable position, holding him more firmly against his body, letting him feel his solid warmth against him. He could see the way Rudy was looking at him and he tried to smile as reassuringly as he could. But he was fully aware of the dangers that laid ahead, and he doubted Rudy was fooled by his smile.

Despite his inability to fully calm Rudy down, he didn’t regret offering to carry him. He was a little stronger than Penny, plus she had held Rudy for a while already. She deserved a break. So here he was, cradling Rudy against him with little effort, walking down the hallway.

He had to admit, it did make him feel a little...strange. He wasn’t really sure what it was. There was just something about carrying his friend in his arms like this that... He shook the thought out of his head, trying to concentrate. He feared if he let his mind wander too much, he could end up accidentally letting Rudy fall and hurting him.

He saw Penny, without warning, raise her hand up. Mint stopped in his tracks, a few feet behind Penny. He looked at her in confusion, wondering what it was that she had seen. The girl didn’t speak or make any noise. She was just...staring at something in front of her. Something that he himself could not see.

And this silence went on for several moments. Perhaps even longer. He wasn’t really sure. A part of him wanted to get Penny to hurry up and tell him what was going on. But another was just concerned. Like...just what had gotten Penny to freeze up like this? What had made her give that expression, her eyes wide? What had...?

Then he started to hear something. Just barely. It was so faint... But he could still hear it. It was almost like a buzzing sound, gradually getting louder and louder. And he thought for sure he could hear something else accompanying that sound. Something that almost sounded like...

Talking.

Mint’s eyes went wide immediately, realization washing through him. He could feel his face start to pale a little. The Beanie Boys had already found a way through the wall? But how? Wouldn’t it have taken longer for... And would they have heard it...?

It didn’t matter at this point. They needed to get away as quickly as they could. They still had a distance advantage, right? They just had to get moving now and keep as much distance as they could. And then they could just find another place to hide and...

No..not this time. He narrowed his eyes in determination. Once they got to a safe place, they were not just going to hide anymore. They were going to fight back. This was getting ridiculous. They couldn’t allow those Beanie Boys to frighten them away. If they were going to be so determined to get them, well, they were just going to have to fight back then. They want to yank the horns? Well now they are going to get the bull.

First and foremost, however, they needed to get away. They weren’t going to be able to do much to stop them if they got caught this early, now would they?

Before he knew it, all of them began to run down the hallway. Well he and Penny ran; he was still holding onto Rudy. He did feel bad for suddenly moving forward like this. Rudy had let out a cry of surprise and held onto him more securely, as though he was going to fall. He glanced down at him sadly, wishing he could say something to help him feel better. But no, he had to focus on running. Reorienting his head so that he could see what was in front of him, he continued to run as fast as he could, his feet pounding the ground, echoing in time with Penny’s.

It was hard to tell just where they were going. The tunnel was poorly lit and neither of them thought to draw a light source of any kind. Mint grunted as he felt his leg hit against some of the grooved surfaces, nearly tripping himself over. He managed to keep himself from falling down, but that was incredibly difficult, especially carrying Rudy like this. The additional weight was...throwing him off a little.

Keeping Rudy more tightly held in his arms, he looked over his shoulder, his teeth clenched tightly. He couldn’t see anything. No sign of the Beanie Boys. That didn’t mean that they weren’t there, however. He knew they were there. He was glad that they couldn’t see them yet; that meant that they were still a good distance away. Now if they could only keep this up, they..

Suddenly they came to a halt. Mint stared at Penny, puzzled by why she had stopped. But the reason soon become apparent.

There, right in front of them, was a three way path.

Mint widened his eyes as he stared at this branch off, this fork in the road, so to speak. He moved over slowly, positioning himself next to Penny. He lifted his head up and he looked slowly from left to right, taking in the sight before him. He noted how the paths were narrow at the top and then branched out as they reached the bottom of the ground. He looked over at Penny, licking his lips nervously.

“What do you think we should do?” Mint whispered softly, his voice tinged with..something. “Which path should we choose?”

Penny took a few steps forward, staring at the tunnels in front of them. “They all look more or less the same. I’m not sure if it’ll be that easy to decide which one to go down...”

“Perhaps the one that is the least stable?” Mint suggested. Penny and Rudy stared at him in shock. He cleared his throat and quickly explained, “We have magic chalk, so it’s not an issue for us. But for the Beanie Boys, if we go down the path of most resistance, maybe there would be a rock slide and they would get trapped.”

“Or perhaps they could get themselves seriously hurt and...” Penny sighed, looking away. “I’m not entirely sure if that is a good idea. They already have a beef with us as it is. Do we really want to provoke them further?”

Mint had no idea why Penny was worried about that. But she wasn’t the only one feeling quite...antsy. He could feel a tingly sensation moving throughout his body. The urge to run was surging up inside of him. He clenched his teeth tightly as he struggled to control it. Only after he managed to get himself to relax at least a little bit, he said, “And would you rather they catch us? Penny, we don’t have time stand around talking about this! Just pick a damn door and let’s get a move on!”

Penny winced at this, but she did not reply. She just turned her head away and she looked over at the tunnels. She remained silent as she tried to ponder just which door they should go through.

Mint did feel a little guilty. He hadn’t meant to snap at her like that. But there was no time for apologiez; he’d worry about that later. Right now, they had to get out of here. So he just stared at Penny and waited for her to make a decision. She was the smart one; she could figure out which tunnel was the right one to go down.

After a few moments, Penny looked back at him. “Well... It seems like the middle one is the most stable...at least, from what I’ve seen. I could be wrong. So... if you want to go for a less stable tunnel...” She turned her head over and she looked at one of the tunnels. “I’d think one of the side ones will do...”

“Hmm...but which one..?” Mint pondered. He tilted his head to one side. “The right or the left?”

“M-Maybe the left one?” Rudy suggested weakly. “Maybe Sandra would expect us to take the right one?”

“I’m not sure why she would think that. But..” Mint looked over at Penny. “What do you think? Left?”

Penny bit her lip as she looked over at the left tunnel before looking back. She still looked as if she really didn’t want to do this. She looked so...hesitant. Mint could not really blame her, either. But he also knew they had little time. The buzzing was getting louder. Those Beanie Boys were surely getting closer and..

“Okay, left it is.” Penny raised her arm up and motioned for them to follow her. “Come on, let’s get going!”

Mint nodded his head. He didn’t need to be told twice. Making sure that Rudy was still nice and snug in his arms, the male teenager moved forward, making his way down the left tunnel, following closely behind Penny.

The tunnel didn’t really feel any different from the last one. Well other than it being a bit slanted. It wasn’t much, but it was enough to give this area an almost unnatural feel to it. Which was saying something, considering this place was built to begin with. It was just...this tunnel didn’t feel like it belonged here. It was out of place. As if someone else had come in here and...

He tried not to let his mind wander around too much. He focused on walking through this dark tunnel with Penny. He looked all around him, taking in the sights that were in all directions. This place certainly didn’t have any signs of collapsing any time soon. And yet, thanks to Penny’s analysis, he couldn’t help but wonder if the walls were going to collapse before they could reach safety.

He wanted to assume that was not going to be the case. They would sooner run into the Beanie Boys before that happened. The walls looked sturdy enough, and they were moving at a decent pace. Quickly, but not moving about wildly. Knowing those Beanie Boys, they would be ramming all over the place and they’d end up getting themselves hurt.

There was still no sign of the Beanie Boys. Mint did feel a sense of relief, but also confusion. He wondered why the Beanie Boys hadn’t shown up yet. He thought that they would be here by now. But for some reason, it didn’t seem like they had gotten any closer. How strange...

He tried not to think about it too much. Keeping a good grip on Rudy and sticking near Penny, he continued to move down the hallway at a decent pace, trying to keep as much distance between him and the Beanie Boys as he could, not wanting to risk any chance of them getting closer. He opened his mouth and panted a little, from a mixture of tiredness but mostly fear. If they caught up... He didn’t want to think about it.

So far, they seemed to be doing a good job. As they traveled further down this hallway, he still saw no signs of danger. Not from any Beanie Boy or anything. They remained safe as they continued to move along. It was to the point where he almost felt safe enough to stop. The keyword there was almost, of course. He would never risk stopping. Not until they found a decent place that they could create a new opening and hide away in. If only this place made a sharp curve or something.

But of course, it was not really required that they had to wait for a curve. Perhaps Penny would have a much better idea of where they could go. He looked over at her, watching as she kept moving forward, looking a bit nervous herself. Not that he was surprised. This whole place just seemed to give off a...strange aura.

Licking his lips nervously, Mint managed to make himself say, “So...do you think we could create a wall here or...”

Penny narrowed her eyes softly. “That does seem like an option. I mean... not like we have any...” Suddenly, without warning, Penny stopped in her tracks. Mint nearly stumbled forward, nearly dropping Rudy to the ground, as this happened. Penny stared towards the ground for a moment, her eyes widening. Then slowly, she looked over at Mint. “Do you hear that...?”

“Hear what?” Mint pondered, shrugging his shoulder. “I don’t hear anything.”

“Listen.” Penny repeated. “Just listen carefully...” Penny looked left and right. Her eyes widened further, her breathing increasing slightly. “Don’t you hear that..?”

Mint frowned at this. He was about to respond, when he started to hear something himself. His eyes widening, he straightened himself up completely, slowly turning his head from side to side. It was just so faint, so slight... Yet somehow, it practically echoed off the walls inside his skull. And he could feel a cold chill rush up inside of him.

Then it dawned on him what was going on. And upon realizing this, he held onto Rudy tighter, more protectively, inching closer to Penny. He could feel his heart pounding inside of his chest, nearly bursting open.

The ground was starting to crack...

Mint looked down below, seeing the line stretching along between his legs and moving forward rapidly. He stared at it for several moments before looking back at Penny, exchanging a look of horror with her. He could hear Rudy whimper and cuddle closer to him, prompting him to hold him more securely.

It didn’t take them long to take action. Without any hesitation, the friends began to run down the hallway as fast as they could. Mint knew this was a horrible idea. He knew that them running like this was only making the cracks worsen. But he couldn’t help it. None of them could. They could only think of running.

They had to get out of here. They had to keep running. They had to escape. They could feel their guts twisting, their minds spinning. They could feel a sickening sensation claw its way up to the surface. If they didn’t get out of here soon, they knew something bad was going to happen. Something was going to...

“Aaaaahhh!”

Mint stopped in his tracks and looked behind him. His eyes widened at what he saw. “Penny! No!”

The crack had stretched over to where Penny was, encircling her completely, almost like it was a deliberate attack. Mint knew this was not the case, but that did not make the sight before him any less terrifying. Gritting his teeth tightly, he rushed over to try to help her.

But that turned out to be a bad move. As soon as he stomped ont the ground hard enough, there was another loud crack. He could feel his blood running cold as he heard a scraping sound. Rock against rock, and then something breaking apart and...

None of them were able to stop their screaming as they began to plummet downward. They rolled around in the air as they hit against the walls that they could not see. They kept on tumbling and somersaulting, constantly wracked with more and more pain. They had no idea how long this was kept up for, nor did they care. They just wanted the pain to stop. Please...make it stop....

Then, before he knew it, Mint hit the ground in a loud thud. He laid there, flinching in pain, shivering. He struggled to keep his eyes open, opening and closing them slowly. He looked around, seeing that Rudy and Penny had landed in different locations. He opened his mouth and took in nice, slow breaths, giving a few pained shudders as he did so.

He struggled to stay awake. Despite the horrible pain in his arm, he tried whatever he could to stay awake. The others looked like they had been knocked out from the fall. He could see blood... The sight of it made his heart skip a beat. He attempted to push himself up..only for him to collapse back into the ground, letting out a scream of pain. He shuddered and hissed in pain, and he could taste something metallic in his mouth.

It was his own blood... He was bleeding internally...

His attempts to get up were an utter failure. His body was growing rapidly weaker and his vision was blurring and distorting. He opened his mouth wider to breathe but...it was just no use.

In moments, he collapsed against the ground, a heaviness in his eyes overcoming him. He took one more look at his friends, letting a few tears stroll down his face. Then he unwillingly allowed the darkness to come over him. His eyes shut softly and he breathed out nice and slow.Then...nothing.

sss

Well...that had turned out...a bit different then she had imagined. She had expected something a little less...dramatic she supposed. But oh well. She did at least get what she wanted. If anything, this was even better. All three of them were subdued...

Sandra grinned as she walked towards the unmoving bodies of her foes. She swished her tail from side to side, her hands folded behind her back. She arched her body slightly as she stared down at the unconscious teenagers in curiosity. To think they really had been that gullible...

Well that was the power of infrasound, wasn’t it? Make them get all worked up, especially over something that wasn’t really there. It worked like a charm. They had freaked out like she had expected them to. She wasn’t sure over what or just what they were doing before. She had only heard them screaming and rushed over to see what was going on. Then she had found this... She knew it was the work of the infrasound she had been tunneling through this entire place.

A part of her wished that she could see just how it had happened. She wished that she could see the look in their eyes when the irrational fear struck them. That would have been so entertaining... But oh well. Regardless, she still had them laying unconscious before her. She could...

Hmm, not yet. She noticed that they were all bleeding a little heavily. The fall must have damaged them far more than she had intended. No, they weren’t allowed to die. Not yet. She still wanted to have more fun with them. It would not be that exciting if they died too soon. She would have to take care of their injuries first before she could take any further action.

Raising her hand up, her eyes narrowing, she actived her powers. She concentrated as hard as she could, biting her tongue slightly in determination. She watched as their injuries began to seal up quickly, and in a matter of seconds, they were gone entirely. She smirked at this as she lowered her hand to her side. Now that this had been taken care of, she could start to concentrate on...other matters.

She moved even closer to them, staring down at their unconscsious forms. It was still hard to believe how easy it was to catch them. And all because of infrasound... It was almost...disappointing. But hey, she could more than make up for that by toying with them, right?

She still wasn’t sure what she was going to do, however. She hadn’t made a solid decision just yet. There were a number of possibilities, she was certain. But none of them were grabbing her attention. And even then, what if more than one idea popped into her head? What if she could not choose? She gritted her teeth. She would have to make a decision quickly, while they were still knocked out.

Hmm, well they did care about each other, right? Perhaps she could do something with that and... Or perhaps no. She had already done that earlier. She wanted something a tad different from that. She wanted something more unique. Something that she hadn’t tried before...

And with that thought in mind, her eyes widened, giving a twinkle. She could feel a light bulb turning on inside of her head and she spread her twisted smile across her face, stretching against her mouth corners. She couldn’t help but give a series of dark-tinged chuckles, bits of laughter that would freeze the blood of even the bravest who dared to approach her.

It was so dark and cruel..

It was so merciless...

It was perfect.

With her teeth bared in her evil smile, she knew exactly what she could do. And it was going to be a lot of fun.

Before she could engage in it, however, she was going to need to call the Beanie Boys. She needed them to carry their ‘guests’ to their new location, otherwise it was not going to work as well as she would like. But this would be an easy task. All she’d have to do was whistle and boom, they were right there.

Then the next task was even easier, and was going to be even more fun. While the Beanie Boys relocated these three idiots, she was going to pay a visit to her little...friend. She sneered as she thought about Snap and how he had tried to escape from her. And now.... She released another series of dark chuckles at the thought.

Snap had already started to give in. Not too much, but he had improved from before. But she had to wonder... What was he going to think about..this? What was he going to think when she decided to...stretch the truth a little?

She wanted him to be the first to crumble. And by this hour, that was going to happen. She would make sure of that.


	41. Abandoned

Oh so many ways for me to show you how your savior has abandoned you.  
-Judith, A Perfect Circle

sss

Snap laid on the ground, curled up into a small ball. He couldn’t stop his shivering, couldn’t stop thinking about what had happened. Even though Sandra had restored his legs, he still did not feel like getting up. He couldn’t bring himself to.

And how could he? Not after what had happened....

He couldn’t help but feel a strong sense of disgust at himself. He couldn’t believe what he had just done earlier. How... How could he have let himself do that? How could he have brought himself to that low level? It was just.... He tried hard not to vomit. But such a thing was difficult to do and he had a strong feeling that he was not going to get over this any time soon.

And why should he? After all, he did just...cuddle with Sandra... The very memory of it caused his blood to chill. He wanted to forget about it. But it wasn’t like Sandra would let him. She would remind him of that, for sure.

Snap had no idea why he did that. It wasn’t even a conscious decision. All instinct had been telling him to get away from there. Every ounce of him then just wanted to slug her and try to run, despite his legs not working at the time. But he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. He couldn’t bring himself to do the one thing that would have granted him some sort of freedom. He just...couldn’t bring himself to do anything.

So he had fallen limp in her arms. He had allowed her to hold him close. He had leaned further against her. It was like his body was trying to seek comfort from her, even though his mind had wanted to get away from her. It was such a confusing state.... He had no idea just what he should make of that situation.

He would try to make sure it didn’t happen again, though. He was not going to allow her to control him that easily. If Sandra wanted to get her dirty paws on him, she was going to have to try harder than that. He was not an idiot. He...

He let out a small sigh. He still felt a wave of disappointment as he realized he hadn’t recalled anything about people keeping their promises with him. He had been...so sure that they did. He thought for certain that he would think of something. Anything... But his mind had drawn a blank. He could feel his gut twisting in guilt, realizing that he had just done little more than confirm Sandra’s statement. Reinforcing her beliefs...

He shuddered at that thought. He never wanted to do that. He wanted to prove to her that she was wrong. But if he couldn’t think of a time when someone had kept their promise...

He knew that she was going to use this to her advantage. She was going to play mind games with him like she had before. She had toyed with his emotions. He was fully aware of that. Yet he still ended up cuddling with her for comfort. And he did have to admit, those words she spoke, they were kind of...

Snap growled and shook the thought out of his head. He gritted his teeth, feeling a pang of disgust. How could he even start to think that? So wrong, so disgusting... There was no way that he would ever... Snap felt like cleansing himself. He had to remind himself that Sandra was still the enemy. He had to keep in mind that Sandra did not care about him; she was just trying to use him. He couldn’t allow himself to fall for her tricks. He couldn’t let her use him like that.

Snap couldn’t finish his thoughts, as in that moment, he could hear footsteps approaching. He let out a small growl as he turned himself away from the kennel door, not wanting to see Sandra as she walked inside. He ignored the door slam, Sandra’s attempt to startle him. No, he was not going to give her that benefit.

“I see you’re a little pickier now.” Sandra stated.

Snap quickly noticed that, during his thought processes, he must have sat himself up. He hardly paid much attention to that, however, and he just kept his back turned to Sandra. He ignored her amused chuckling as she approached him slowly.

“Ignoring me isn’t going to change anything, dear Snacks.” Sandra cooed softly. “And besides, I thought we already cleared this up.” Sandra must be right in front of the kennel door now. She sounded so close. “I did promise that you can trust me. I trust that you will come to realize that sooner or later.”

Snap turned his head and looked over his shoulder. “Go to hell.”

Sandra hardly reacted to that. A small flinch, but nothing more. Sandra shrugged it off like it was nothing. “You can say what you want to me. Again, not like you can do a thing about it.” Snap just hissed at this and looked away from her. “And looking away is just utter denial, Snacks. You know full well that you are not leaving me. You belong to me. Why don’t you just man up and accept that.” She paused for a moment, and then gave a quick chuckle. “Of course, you are not really a man, are you? I mean, you are so small...”

Snap tried not to allow Sandra’s words to get to him. He tried his best to ignore whatever she was saying. He managed to keep his back turned to her, not doing so much as growl. He did not want to flatter her with any kind of response.

He didn’t get the luxury of ignoring her for long. Before he knew it, Sandra had not only gotten into the cage, but she had wrapped her arms around him and pulled him against her. Snap let out a grunt of surprise and he attempted to struggle. Sandra merely tightened her grip on him. He quickly settled down and just tried his best to ignore her.

Sandra grabbed the top of his head and began to stroke it a bit roughly. Snap hissed at this, but otherwise remained quiet. “You are just so adorable, you know? And so small... Rudy designed you to be a midget, didn’t he?”

Snap couldn’t help but growl. He did keep himself from speaking, but only just barely.

Sandra wasn’t bothered at all by this silence. If anything, she almost thrived on it. He winced as he heard her let out another laugh, and he could kind of see her pulling her head back as she did this. Her shoulders shook slightly with each laugh, only stopping when she managed to relax herself. “Oh Snacks...” She spoke, lowering her head forward a little. “No wonder you could never get together with Rapsheeba..”

Snap’s eyes widened in horror at this. He whirled himself around, managing to free himself. He looked up at Sandra in horror, his heart racing against his chest. He breathed in and out quickly, his mind swirling. “H-How do you know about...”

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. “Oh come now. You can’t say that you have forgotten already.” Upon seeing Snap remaining silent, Sandra let out a sigh. She raised her hand up in gesture. “I mean, sure it might have been a while, but...”

“How did you know about Rapsheeba?” Snap managed to repeat himself. At this point, he was up on his feet, slowly backing away from her.

Sandra just watched him, remaining silent for a few moments. Her eyes were narrowed as if annoyed. She eventually rolled her eyes and placed her hand on her head. She shook it back and forth for a few moments before she stared back at him, her arms limp at her sides and having a look that showed a level of disbelief. “You told me about her before. Remember?” She paused, and then her eyes flashed for a bit. Raising her hand up dismissively, she stated, “Well, it was quite a long time ago. It would have been before you destroyed my machine...”

Snap narrowed his eyes as she said that. He could tell, from her tone of voice, that she still thought he had done that on purpose. Not that he was sorry for that now, knowing what it had been used for...

His mind shifted away from that when he started to realize that she had spoken the truth. He did mention Rapsheeba while chatting with Sandra. Not too much. Just enough that the blue dragon must know that he did have something of a crush on Rapsheeba. So that’s how she must have known. Still, he did not feel comfortable with Sandra bringing her up. What was she up to...?

Sandra noticed his expression and she did little more than grin back at him. Her ears raised up a little, as though suffering from one of the biggest twitches that he’s seen. “Ah, I see that you remember now. Good, good...” She turned her head to the side, looking down at him with one eye. “I also take it that you remember the fun that we used to have...”

Snap moved away from her. “To think of that now makes me sick...”

“Oh come on, little Snap. You can’t tell me that you don’t miss our chats.” Sandra motioned towards him. “You had seemed to enjoy my company. Well you can do that again, you know...” She lowered her head, giving him something of an upwards glance. “We could get that all back...”

“No!” Snap jumped back away from her, holding his hands out at his sides. He bared his teeth at Sandra, as though she was some kind of giant tarantual that had gotten in his cell. She might as well be that, anyway. “I don’t want to have anything to do with you!”

“Oh no? If I recall correctly, you did cuddle up with me.” Sandra said as she motioned her body in one direction, her head facing another. Snap just growled softly, clenching his teeth. “I think you have it in you that you do want me in some way. You just don’t want to admit it...”

“Bite me...” Snap hissed.

Sandra tilted her head to one side. “Is that something you want me to do? I can do that for you if you would like.”

Snap widened his eyes and moved away from her. “That’s just a figure of speech, you...!”

“Oh I know. I just like to mess with you.” Sandra said with a grin. She moved her head to the other side this time. “You really need to learn to pick up on sarcasm, my dear little Snacks.”

Snap formed fists with his hands, shaking them. He could feel tension rising up inside of him. He forced himself to take another step back, narrowing his eyes into slits. He let out a small hiss, a weak warning for her to stay away from him.

Not that it was going to work. Already Sandra was coming closer to him. Snap could feel his heart rate increasing. He moved back as quickly as he could, his head tilted up so he could look at Sandra in the eyes. Those crimson, blazing eyes seemed to almost stare right into his fucking soul. And that terrified him...

Soon he could feel his back touching the wall behind him. His foot had gotten caught in the bowl of water left out for him. He shuddered at how cold it was and kicked his leg a little. He quickly ignored that altogether when Sandra suddenly grabbed onto his arms and pinned him there. Snap jerked himself from side to side, but it was no use. He lowered his head, shutting his eyes, trying not to look at her. But for some reason, he couldn’t help but lift his head up and turning over to look at her once more.

Sandra was just smirking down at him, that disgusting, haughty smile which told in a thousand words just how arrogant she was being in this situation. She knew that she had the upperhand and she enjoyed flaunting it before him. Snap growled at this, trying to be as defiant as he could. But despite his attempts, he couldn’t stop himself from growing fearful as Sandra moved her hand towards him. He forced himself to look away and he shuddered as he felt her fingers trailing along his cheek.

“I don’t see why you are so resistant, Snap. Can’t you see that I just want to be your friend?”

Snap could feel his heart nearly set on fire with that comment. A rush of warmth moved through him and he looked back at her. He opened his mouth, letting his teeth be exposed a little. He breathed in and out quickly, each breath having a growly edge to it. His eyes remained wide in shock for several moments. It took a bit before he could narrow them again.

He struggled to respond to that comment. But for a little while, he could only stammer. Each sentence became nothing more than a stutter and he found himself tripping over his own tongue. He could feel his body shivering harder as emotion raged on inside of him. It took him what felt like several minutes before he could force his shocked self to even think to reply.

“B-Be my friend...? That’s what this is all about?! I don’t fucking believe you! All you have e-e-ever done was lie to me! And trick me! And you...you even turned all of ChalkZone City against me years go! And you dare try to say that you want to be my friend? Fuck you! I know you are a liar! Y-You can’t fool me! Not anymore! So just go fuck yourself!”

Sandra widened her eyes at this, her mouth nearly dropping open. Snap realized what he said and his own eyes widened as well. He struggled to keep a brave face, but upon seeing how she was glaring at him, he realized that he had fucked up big time. Though he dropped his previous attitude and cringed before her, that did nothing to soften the expression that she was giving him now.

“You want me to do...what...? Oh Snap, and here I thought we were getting close...” Sandra shook her head slowly. It was so eerie hearing her speak like that. So calm..and yet still holding a lot of anger inside. “Did my friendship mean nothing to you?”

“Wh-What friendship?! Y-You were trying to...” Sandra couldn’t make himself continue. He was starting to feel sick as he remembered the horrible things Sandra did to him. Especially earlier when....

Snap grunted as he felt Sandra suddenly grip his chin tightly. He could feel his head being tilted upwards in a rather painful manner. He seethed through his clenched teeth as he was forced to look at her in the eyes. Seeing her this close, seeing her with that expression, he couldn’t help but shiver and give a soft whimper under his breath.

“Does anyone’s friendship mean anything to you...?” Sandra asked under her breath. “Did you ever take anyone’s kindness seriously? Because I don’t think you do. Otherwise, you would have behaved better with me. I mean.. I am being kind enough to let you live.” Sandra growled, her words having a very slight distortion to them. “You obviously don’t care...”

“I-I do!” Snap found himself shouting. Sandra paused herself, raising an eyebrow at this. “I-I mean...I care about my friends! You know that!”

“I see...” Sandra raised a finger up, tapping it against her chin. “I recall you care for them a lot...don’t you?”

Snap narrowed his eyes at this. He did not like the way that she had spoken that line. “If you dare try to do anything to them...”

“Eh, not like you can stop me.” Sandra said with a twisted sneer. She smirked down at Snap’s shivering form, looking as though she was becoming less annoyed and more just amused by this whole thing. Snap tried not to let himself get too worked up, but it was hard to fully ignore Sandra’s words or her dark smile. “So tell me, Snap... Just how much do you care for your little friends...?”

“You should know the answer to that already!” Snap shouted at her, a bit in disbelief. “You could not have forgotten already that..”

“Ah yes, of course...” Sandra raised her hand up, her other hand gripping his shoulder more tightly. “I remember that now. It was so hard to remember...” Sandra chuckled, her previous aggressive demeanor being replaced with..something that Snap found genuinely more unsettling somehow. “Yes, I do recall that you...care about them. But...do they care about you..?”

Snap nearly jumped back at this, staring at Sandra in shock. “What are you talking about?! Of course they care about me!”

“Well, they haven’t tried to come save you yet, did they?” Sandra raised her hand up in gesture. “They’re letting you stay with me. Isn’t that sad? They can’t be bothered to help their little friend...”

“You’re the one who is keeping them away!” Snap could feel his blood boiling, unable to believe Sandra would even say such a thing. She wasn’t making sense in general, but for her to say something like that... “You have them locked up somewhere! Or you forced them outside or...whatever else!”

Sandra raised her hand up. “I can tell you right now that I haven’t done a thing to them. They left on their own accord.”

“Y-You’re lying!” Snap yelled, a few tears starting to form in his eyes. “Y-You have to be lying! There’s just no way that...”

Sandra raised her eyebrow at this. “Are you calling me a liar?”

Snap paused for a moment. Then he nodded his head curtly. “Yes...I am.” He narrowed his eyes further, his teeth flashing at her. “I know my friends. I know what they are like. I know for a fact that they did not abandon me... It is your fault that they hadn’t gotten to me yet. You are the one who is keeping them away!”

Sandra stared at him for a few moments, her eyes blinking slowly. She soon let out a small sigh and shook her head slowly. “It is quite noble of you to try to think better about your friends, Snap. But I can assure you, they are not here. They have abandoned you.”

Snap could feel his body shaking, his mind whirling with thoughts. He did not believe for a second that his friends had left him like that. He knew they would never do that. He didn’t know why Sandra was even bothering to lie to him like that, as he knew the truth. But the fact that she was even trying at all...

Sandra held onto his face firmly with her wing hands. Snap hissed at this, trying to yank his head away. Sandra merely tightened her grip on him, securing him in place. “Perhaps I could show you then? I can prove to you that they really did leave you behind. I can take you throughout this entire place and trust me, you will not find them anywhere.”

Snap leaned away from her the best that he could. “Like that is going to convince me... I know you had just locked them away and you are going to show me all the places they are not and...”

“In that case...” Sandra moved her head in closer, her eyes closing partway. “Maybe a camera would surfice? I could show you my monitoring system. Would that help you believe me?”

Snap wanted to slap her across the face. But he soon decided...sure why not? He was almost morbidly curious to see just how Sandra would try to trick him into thinking that his friends left him. “Okay then.... Try me...”

Sandra smiled at this. “I promise that you will see things my way..”

Snap rolled his eyes. “Sure, whatev...”

He immediately froze when he felt Sandra press her lips agains this face. His whole body stiffened up, his eyes bulging wide. He let out a few muffled ‘mmphs’ as Sandra kissed him. His struggles increased when he felt her tongue slither inside of his mouth. Despite his struggles, he had to wait, ‘allowing’ Sandra to finish the kiss.

Once her tongue was out of his mouth, he desperately wiped at his face, spitting a few times to the side. “D-Don’t ever do that again...!”

Sandra merely shrugged her shoulder. Then, pretending as if nothing happened, she grabbed onto Snap’s arm and she proceeded towards the kennel entrance. “Now come along. I promise you that, after I show you the monitors, you will accept that your dear friends have truly abandoned you...”

Snap growled at this, struggling not to roll his eyes. He couldn’t believe that she was so certain that he would... Well, he might as well play along for now. He wasn’t going to get away from her any time soon. He might as well just go through with this. He could prove her wrong later on anyway. She would see. His friends would save him.

But for now, he just kept himself silent, letting Sandra drag him along behind her. He did his best not to allow his fear of her, or what she might do later, take him over, concentrating on simply glaring at her. The two of them continued down the hallway, heading towards...what he assumed would be some kind of monitoring station.

sss

Sandra couldn’t help but smile as she continued to drag Snap along. She didn’t stop moving, not even when Snap was tripping a little from her speed. She didn’t care; he did need to learn his lesson from his back sassing from before anyway.

Well that and she was just a little excited to get things moving forward. She had planned this for a while and she didn’t want to do anything to delay progress that much. She wanted to get this done as soon as possible.

Though at the same time, she was also aware that she couldn’t move things too quickly. Otherwise, this might not work. Plus, it didn’t help that, at least with some of this stuff, she had been winging it. If she moved too fast, Snap might catch on to this fact and be able to resist her more. And that was not something that she could allow. She had done a good job with confusing him, which would make him a little easier to convince. But...she still had to be careful.

Messing with his mind was just the first step. Screwing with him that way a little, making him confused, sneaking in a statement or two that was false and watching him buy it like it had actually happened... If she could just keep this up, she imagined that she could convince him of anything. Even the idea of his friends having left him behind...

But that was something that she had to tread lightly on. She knew that, if she was going to convince him of that, she had to be careful. She could not slip up and say the wrong thing, or else she... Well, she would just have to make sure that didn’t happen, right?

Turning Snap against the others was something that she had thought of earlier. When she had stared down at their unconscious forms, the idea just unfolded inside of her mind. She knew exactly how she could get Snap to see things her way. And if she was able to break the bond between Rudy and Snap, then they would both be easier to control, no longer looking at each other for strength. It would certainly help her in the long run, once she succeeded.

Or rather, if she did. She was still aware that something could go wrong. That was why she took extra precaution. To ensure that Snap would not see them in here, or even hear them, she had them all relocated elsewhere for the time being. She would get to them later. For now, she needed to focus on Snap.

It didn’t take them long before they reached one particular room in the castle. It was one that she hadn’t really used herself. She had known this was here, and she had been in it once or twice. But she had been so busy with getting things prepared ‘off screen’ as it where, that she didn’t really have all that much time to focus on this room. But, oh well. Not like that was going to make much of a difference, really.

She forced Snap into the room with her. She did release him and she watched how he staggered forward a little from how hard she had tossed him. Snap wobbled back and forth, struggling to keep himself from falling over. He did manage to rebalance himself and he rubbed his head a little. Sandra moved forward, ushering him in deeper.

The room itself was small and a little circular. There were several monitors all over the place, the rows stretching all around and filling the small doorless room with a soft, light blue glow. Each monitor held a different image upon it, showcasing another part of the castle. There was also a panel in front of the monitors, bending with the shape of the room. Several buttons and levers were placed upon it, a sight that would be irrestible to anyone who didn’t know any better.

Sandra pushed Snap towards the cameras, remaining positioned behind him. Snap struggled a little as she pushed him forward, his feet kicking and tripping over themselves. She didn’t stop until he hit against the panel in front of him, his body pressing against the top surface before moving back. The blue superhero zoner shook his head, rubbing it, before looking up at the monitors themselves.

“Take a good look, Snap.” Sandra commented, her lips curled up into a malicious grin. “Do you see your precious friends anywhere? Take a long, good look if you have to...”

Sandra watched as Snap stood in front of the monitors, his head turning from right to left slowly as he looked upon the screens before him. She couldn’t see his face, but she could sense his growing tension and determination. He looked from side to side first slowly, then increasing in vigor as he more and more desperately tried to find something that he could use to ‘prove her wrong’.

But try as he might, there was just nothing here that would prove him right. There was nothing here to indicate that Rudy, Penny, or Mint were still in the castle. Because they weren’t; she had seen to that. Snap could say all he wants to that his friends were going to come find him. But he can see for himself here that this was not the case.

She couldn’t help but smirk when she saw Snap starting to get even more desperate, constantly looking, constantly trying to find something to prove himself right. But of course, there was absolutely nothing. And he was never going to find anything. Seeing him getting so desperate, moving himself around more freely, hearing his breathing increasing, it caused her smile to spread even further. It was just so cute and adorable the way that he tried to deny what he felt was impossible, and yet was the truth.

She didn’t step in during this. She felt it would be better to just let him come to the conclusion himself. It shouldn’t take too long, right? Yes, sooner or later, he would realize that...

“These are rigged..” Snap hissed through clenched teeth.

Sandra froze at this, her ears raising up a little. “What did you say?”

“You heard me. This cameras...they’re all fake.” Snap slowly turned his head, glaring in her direction. “You cannot convince me that this castle is that empty.” There was the tiniest hint of tears in his eyes. He was in obvious denial. “There’s no way that my friends abandoned me. You’re just trying to make me turn against them... B-But I won’t do it!”

Sandra let out a small growl at this. It would seem that Snap was a little more resilient than she had thought. But that didn’t mean that she was going to give up. Oh no, she had something else that she could try. “Oh poor naive little Snap...”

The blue and white zoner took a few steps towards her. His body arched ad he raised up his fists, preparing to fight. “Tell me where my friends are! Or I’ll...”

Sandra raised her hand up in gesture. “You can plainly see that they aren’t here.”

“Those cameras are fake!” Cried Snap. “I know my friends would never leave me! Stop trying to tell me what I know is false!”

“Oh? Well I can prove you wrong, Snappy boy.” Sandra cooed as she reached over and stroked his cheek. “I can always find ways of making you see things my way. If cameras will not work for you then...” She tilted her head to one side. “Perhaps an organic seeking map would?”

Snap looked up at her in confusion. “A...what?”

Sandra pulled her head back. “It’s an old map I found here a while back. It shows dots indicating who is in the casttle. Do you think that one of these would help you understand?”

Snap narrowed his eyes at her, gritting his teeth tightly. He didn’t answer for several moments, spending some time just glarring at her. Eventually he did tdake in a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “You can try all you want to...but it’ll never work!”

Sandra merely shrugged at this. She kept quiet as she moved over towards one of the large buttons in the center. She stared down at it for several moments. She looked over and grinned at Snap before she returned her attention to the button. She lifted a finger and she she held it up in the air. “All right then. Take a look at this and tell me what you see!” And with that, she pushed the button.

sss

A part of Snap wanted to tell Sandra to go fuck herself. A part of him just wanted to take his fist and slug her. He had trouble believing that she was still insisting on this. Then again, considering who he was speaking with...should he really be that surprised?

He let out a small sigh. Well, he might as well ‘entertain’ her anyway. If she was not going to listen to him, if she was going to continue to insist on this, well what other choice did he have, really? He might as well just go along with this. Hopefully Sandra would eventually get the hint and...well he couldn’t expect her to leave him alone. At the very least, give him some space.

Snap looked at the ground as he heard a squeaking sound. There was some kind of lid opening up, similar to an old VHS player. He could see something wide and thin rising out. He took a few steps back as he watched the structure move up completely, and he was immediately reminded of those flatscreen TVs he saw once in a while in ChalkZone City. Despite being covered in dust, he could see that this did look pretty advanced. Something that he would expect from the Future Dome, except that this one actually worked.

He took a moment to take in the sight. The flat screen monitor stood before him, slightly curved at the center despite its name. There was no picture on it at first. Just blackness and a line constantly moving up and down, like an old CRT TV set. Snap watched this for several moments, studying it carefully. He looked over at Sandra, noting her expression. Then he looked back at the monitor. Licking his lips slowly, he approached it.

Stopping about a foot right in front of it, he put his hands on his hips and looked at it intently. He stretched himself backwards a little, feeling a small crack in his spine as he did so. He turned his eyes upward and stared towards the top, and then slowly skimmed downwards, his eyes moving left and right as he watched the lines moving across, a sign that there was no signal being recieved.

Hmm so how was he supposed to see anything on here? If Sandra was determined to make him see what she saw, then she was going to have to do better than this. There didn’t seem to be any buttons on this. How very strange...

“You’re supposed to put your hand on it.” Instructed Sandra, her finger raised up. “Just put your hand on it and the screen will activate.”

Oh. Well he supposed that made sense. With a quick shrug, Snap reached over and touched the monitor. Upon placing his hand against it, he could hear a small whirring sound. His eyes widened and he moved his hand away quickly, thinking that he activated something horrible.

To his surprise, the screen began to glow brightly for a few moments. It was swift and constrasted so starkly with everything around him. He had to raise his hands up and cover his eyes for several moments, trying to block out the light. Thankfully, this was only brief and he was soon able to remove them, allowing him to see the monitor before him.

No longer glowing obnoxiously bright, he was able to see what the screen now displayed for him. There was still a mostly solid color deal. Black specifically. But now other things were on the screen as well. Lines that criss-crossed each other, curving in one direction and then the other. There were actually multiple sets of these, all neatly lined up. It took Snap a few moments to recognize this as a map of their current location.

He could see there were a few blinking red dots on the screen. There were four that were scattered in multiple directions. Then there were two which were very close to each other. Snap realized that these dots represented him and Sandra, since the sky blue dragon wasn’t far from him. But what of these smaller red dots? Perhaps he could click on one of these and...

The dot was quickly enlargened, filling up so much space on the screen itself. Clicking on it again did shrink it. Snap re-enlargened it and took note of how it looked. Judging from what he was seeing and how the shape had dramatically altered, he realized that this was a Beanie Boy. Looking at the other dots, he realized that they, too, were also Beanie Boys.

Well that took care of that. He was able to see where the Beanie Boys were and he was able to see his position in the castle in relation to everything else. This would certainly be useful... He refocused his attention on now finding Rudy, Penny, and Mint. Once he figured out where they were in the castle, he could plot to escape and reroute there. That is...provided he remembered these pathways well enough.

He didn’t see them anywhere on this level. But then, he didn’t expect them to be. Knowing his friends, they would have gone another way. So he moved his eyes along the screen and looked at other locations.

The next level yielded the same result. There were no dots here, not even one for a Beanie Boy. And he hadn’t yet found Skrawl. Then the next level showed nothing, either. Snap was still not all that worried. He guessed that the further he went down, the more likely he was going to find his friends. They were likely hiding in one of the lower levels, where Sandra rarely went.

...hmm... he had looked at five more levels and he still didn’t see his friends. Okay, that wasn’t a problem. He still had some more left to look at. He knew this machine was working. It was showing him, Sandra, and the Beanie Boys, so surely he’d find his friends eventually. There were a lot of levels here to look at. He just needed to keep going and...

Still nothing. At this point, Snap was starting to get a little worried, but he still hung on. He ignored that sensation in his chest as he kept on looking. Rudy, Penny, and Mint were in here somewhere. He had to find them. He just had to... He kept skimming through the levels faster and faster.

But no matter how hard he scrolled his eyes along the monitor, no matter how many levels of this castle that he looked at, he still couldn’t find anything. He had been through ten levels so far, and he still found absolutely nothing.

Snap could feel his heart starting to race against his chest. His eyes widened and he clenched his teeth. He thought for sure that he could feel himself begin to get a little sweatier. He didn’t want to believe that his friends weren’t here. They were in here somewhere. He just had to keep looking harder. They...They must be on one of the very lowest levels. It would take a while to get there. But soon he would find them and then he could try to meet up with them.

He used his hand to scroll through the images faster and faster. His mind whirled with fast-moving thoughts, clogging up the interior of his skull. He tried to ignore the pounding in his head from each heart beat as he tried to find any kind of evidence for his friends being here. But it seemed like the more he scrolled, the more he was proving Sandra’s statement...that his friends...really weren’t here...

No...it couldn’t be true. They couldn’t have left him... They just had to be here somewhere. There’s nowhere else they could be. Snap opened his mouth and breathed in faster and faster, feeling his heart nearly jump out of his chest. He could feel a tingly, burning yet chilling sensation in his fingers. His eyes widened and he could feel more sweat dripping down his face. He kept on looking and looking until...

He was on the last level. He was skimming over what he knew was the final chance for his friends to be there. But no matter which way he looked, this level was just as empty as all of the others. His heart twisted and yanked inside of his chest when he realized this could only mean one possible thing.

His friends weren’t here...

But that was impossible.. They had to be here somewhere... He just had to keep looking hard enough. Sooner or later, he would find them. He couldn’t give up looking for them...

But it was no use. No matter how many times he looked around, double checking and triple checking, there was absolutely no change. His head spun and ached. His heart felt like it was going to burst open. His mouth was open and panting even harder, making his throat become dry. And the results were still the same. His friends were not in the castle.

He shook his head in disbelief, his eyes remaining wide. He could feel his head swimming with thoughts as he tried to comprehend what he was seeing. It just didn’t make any sense. He found himself shaking his head slowly from side to side, his breathing become shaky, his eyes starting to burn with the faintest hint of tears. There was no way his friends would leave him, right? Just no way that they would abandon him.

Yet, as much as he tried to look, so many times of trying to prove her wrong...he had nothing to show for it. No evidence to support himself. Absolutely no sign of his friends being here. They were just...gone.

Snap lowered his head towards the ground, staring into nothingness, his body filling with a cold, burning sensation. He could feel every corner of his body feeling like it was set on fire. He couldn’t stop his shivering, couldn’t stop the rapidly moving thoughts from invading his head. He grabbed onto his head and gently rubbed it, trying to help himself feel better. But the longer he rubbed his scalp, the worse his headache seemed to feel. He soon pulled his hands away and let them fall to his side.

He just stood there, kind of loose yet kind of tense at the same time. A weird mix. He stared out at the screen before him. He was looking it over again, not really taking in what he was seeing other than the fact that he still only saw the same amount of red dots before. He couldn’t find any of them and even Skrawl was absent...

Well he was not too concerned about Skrawl, so that didn’t bother him. But Rudy, Penny, and Mint... Just where were those guys? They weren’t anywhere on here.. They had to have been...

Snap’s eyes widened and he whirled himself around to Sandra. He stood there, glaring at her intently, his teeth gritted against each other. Sandra looked at him in confusion, tilting her head to one side. Without warning, Snap found himself charging at her, unable to stop himself. Sandra jumped out of the way, letting him run past her.

Snap skidded to a halt and stood there with his back arched forward. His hands were placed on his thighs and he panted heavily, struggling to catch his breath. Then he turned his head and he looked over at Sandra, baring his teeth. Turning himself around slowly and pointing his rounded hand in her direction, he gave a single, rage-filled cry.

“What the hell have you done with my friends?!”

sss

Sandra blinked several times as she stared at Snap. Her expression remained blank, even as her muscles tugged at her face, wanting to contort it. She twitched her tail from one way to the other. Her red eyes narrowed ever so slightly as she took in the statement that Snap had made.

“What have I done to your friends? Why, Snacks...you should already know that.” Sandra leaned herself back slightly, folding her arms against her chest. “I’ve done nothing to them.”

“Y-Yes you have! You must have! You... You monster!” Snap took a couple steps towards her. She could see how hard his body was shaking and she was amazed that he could still stand like that. “You did something to them! Y-You killed them...” His eyes began to water a bit at this. “You killed my friends...! Murderer!”

Sandra rolled her eyes at this accusation. Not that she wasn’t too surprised. Snap was in such an emotional state right now. In such denial... So of course he was going to try to deny the ‘truth’ she had given him and automatically assume the worst. “Go ahead and accuse me of that all you want to, Snacks. Quite frankly, I cannot blame you.” She lifted a hand in gesture. “But I must confess that I really didn’t do anything to them. They left on their own accord.” She closed her eyes softly. “Some friends they turned out to be, right?”

“N-No... That’s not true!” Snap shouted at her, stomping his feet against the ground. “This is all some kind of trick! You killed them and now you are trying to fool me into thinking they left me here on purpose!” Sandra didn’t answer him, just raising her eyebrows in response. Snap hissed at this and took a step forward. He pointed his rounded hand at her again in an accusatory manner. “Admit it, you disgusting demonic dragon!”

Sandra simply raised her hand up and gave a loud yawn, moving her hand back and forth in front of her open mouth. She ignored Snap’s loud ‘grr’ sound at this, enjoying the look on his face. How flushed with red he was, tears already streaming down his face. He was filled to the brim with anger, to the point where she was surprised that he didn’t explode. This was such an amusing sight.

Sandra began to pace back and forth in front of Snap, watching him carefully. Even though his eyes were solid white, she could almost feel his pupils moving along with her movements, boring through her. While for most, this would be uncomfortable, for her it was almost thrilling.

“You saw for yourself that they aren’t there. You saw all those red dots. None of them were your friends, were they?” Sandra tilted her head to one side, a grin spreading across her face. “If I still had them here, they would be displayed on the monitor. But it didn’t...did it?” She pulled her lips back into a partial, sadistically happy-looking snarl. “You can deny it all you want to, Snacks. But you will have to accept the truth sooner or later...”

Snap widened his eyes at this. He soon shook his head and he took a step back, keeping his teeth gritted at her. He looked almost like a feral animal ready to strike. She wouldn’t be surprised at all if he suddenly grew fangs. “J-Just tell me what you did to my friends...! Where are they...? Where did you bury them?!”

Sandra placed her hand against her face, slowly shaking it. “You still don’t realize it, do you?” She reopened her eyes and stared down at his shivering form. “I didn’t do anything to them. They left on their own.” Sandra took a few steps towards him, her mouth spreading downward, her eyes practically glowing. “You can pretend that I am lying all you want to. I do not care.” She tilted her head so sharply to one side that she could hear a crack inside. “But rest ‘assured’, little Snap, that I have not killed your friends. Sure I admit to messing with them....but they still left on their own. Willingly, I might add.”

“Where have you hidden their bodies?!” Snap raised up his fists, fully prepared to attack. His face was stained in redness from his tears. “Take me to them! They deserve a proper burial!”

“My, aren’t you so quick to jump to conclusions.... You really think your friends are dead?” Sandra shrugged her shoulders in a nonchalant manner. “Is your mind always this dark?”

“Shut up! I know they’re dead!” Snap’s voice dripped with venom and emotion. “I-If they were alive, they would have shown up on the chart somewhere! They...”

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. “Not exactly...Look here.” Sandra moved towards the monitor. She used one of her feather fingers to move through it slowly until she reached one spot. She pointed at two new red dots, ones that Snap himself had failed to notice due to his frantic state. “These two represent that condor, Courtney. Here is where her meat is stored, and here....” She trailed her finger along, soon ending up outside of the map. “..is where her bones lay.”

Snap looked at the screen, his eyes widening as he stared upon what Sandra was pointing to. “B-But... I...”

“If you want to keep denying it, that’s fine.” Sandra commented, not even bothering to look at him. She took in a deep breath and sighed. “But I’m afraid it is true. They did leave you. If they were here, they would show up.” She turned her head and she gave him a backwards, sideways glance. “This monitor spreads out for several miles as you can see...” She then looked back. Her voice became a little quiet and almost weak-sounding, further driving home her statement. “As much as it pains me to say, they really did abandon you. You can see for yourself here. They are nowhere to be found, and trust me, if they were dead, you would have seen where I put their bodies.”

“Th-Then you dragged them out further! Trying to make me believe that they...” Snap started to say.

Sandra cut him off, raising her hand up. “I can assure you, Snap, that I did not leave this premises. I couldn’t have done it.” She paused for a moment. Then she said, “And before you say the Beanie Boys did it, I can say for certain that they had been trying to stop them. They weren’t able to do so in time, and they got away. With no intent on coming back.”

She started to make her way closer to Snap. She watched as he still looked so desperate, determined to find some kind of hole in her story. She could see the frustration surging in his face. She could almost see the blood vessels in his eyes grow as he looked left and right in desperation. She softened her expression up as she got closer.

Snap turned his head from left to right. He stared at the monitor, at Sandra, out the doorless entry that they had come in from. His breathing quickened a little, and she could practically hear his mind’s gears spinning about inside his head. He soon stared at her entirely, and he began to cringe away from her, raising his hand up as though she thought she was about to strike him.

Sandra did not get much resistance out of him, though, not even when she moved in to wrap her arms around him. Snap did jerk about for a little bit, but the shock of this discovery was enough to keep him pretty weakened. He soon found himself leaning against Sandra, not from will, but from the fact that he wasn’t even trying to stand using his feet anymore. Snap could do little more than growl as Sandra pressed him against her in what looked like a comforting hug.

“I know it is hard for you to accept, Snap. I know you are having difficulty processing this. I know it may take you a little while to realize the truth.” Sandra spoke softly, attempting to sound almost reassuring. She could feel Snap breathing against her, his chest inflating and deflating constantly. She tightened her grip on him slightly. “But I am telling you the truth.”

“Th-There...there has to be something that...” Snap spoke. His voice still had a panicked tone to it. But she noticed something different about it. Something that sounded almost...accepting. “They have to be here somewhere... Just h-hiding... They...”

Sandra let out a small sigh and shook her head slowly. “I fear not.” She moved her hand up and down his back slowly. “I know you wish that were the case. I am afraid that isn’t true. I saw them flee with my own eyes, Snap.”

Snap gave a small, weak wriggle in her arms, though he was too weak to actually make himself move away from her. “Y-You’re lying...”

Sandra knew that fully convincing Snap was a difficult tast. But perhaps if she planted the seeds of doubt in his head, they could grow and fester into something...more. She knew of one way to strike at him in such a way that he would have no choice but to consider that possibility. She struggled not to smile, not to give herself away, as she moved away from Snap and gripped onto his shoulders. She looked down at him, almost like a mother would her child.

And then she spoke. “I actually heard Rudy making a promise.” At this, Snap looked up at her, his eyes wide, a few tears edging underneath them. “He had promised that he would stay behind and try to save you. He had sounded so sincere...” Sandra added a tinge of venom to those words, her teeth gritting tightly. “He sounded like he actually cared about you...”

Snap licked his lips slowly, looking rather hesitant to even try asking. But he soon managed to say, “Wh-What did he end up doing...?”

Sandra narrowed her eyes into slits. “He abandoned you, along with those others. He had promised to help you, Snap. The little fucker made a promise...” She formed a fist with her hand, shaking it. “And he still left you behind!” She forced herself to sigh through her gritted teeth. “I guess you being his best friend...and his creation..just wasn’t good enough.” She closed her eyes and she shook her head slowly. “...now was it...?”

Snap whispered under his breath, “N-No...”

“I’m sorry, but it’s true.” Sandra told him. She didn’t care if she was starting to sound a little repetitive at this point. She was in the home stretch now. She just had to keep hammering this in until Snap accepted it to be true. He might be difficult at first, but he knew that, sooner or later, he would cave in. “He had left you behind on purpose. He doesn’t care about you. If he did, he would have kept his promise. But he broke it...” She gave a dramatic pause, leaning herself in towards Snap. “...just like all the others, right..?”

“No...no...” Snap shook his head in utter denial. He struggled to get away from her. Sandra did release him and she watched as he staggered back, holding onto his head. “Th-That’s not...it couldn’t be....” He darted his eyes around, clearly struggling against his own mind, trying to find something..anything...but...

Sandra watched him with narrowed eyes for several moments. Then she let out a small sigh, staring at him as sympathetically as she could. She started to make her way towards him again, her red eyes not daring to leave him. Snap looked up at her, breathing quickly through his open mouth. He didn’t attempt to move away from her, his legs too weak and wobbly to help him back to his feet. She had noticed that he had dropped onto his knees at this point.

She watched as he continued to struggle with himself. He continued to whisper denials under his breath. He conitnued fighting against his own mind, trying to find some kind of justification for what Rudy did, or trying to find another explanation for her words. But predictably, it seemed like he couldn’t think of anything, causing his body to shake harder and himself to breathe in and out in a rather quickened fashion.

And all Sandra did was watch. She allowed him to keep fighting with himself. She let him burn out his thoughts and his mind. She let him drop down further into the ground, tears shedding from his eyes as he started to be confronted with the ‘truth’. He could keep trying to deny it, as his constant whispering suggested. But he was starting to realize...there was absolutely no denying it. He had no way of explaining what was going on...

...except with him being abandoned.

“N-No.. Please...no...” Snap whimpered softly. “I-It isn’t p-p-possible...th-they couldn’t have... R-Rudy w-w-wouldn’t...”

Sandra pulled him into a tighter hug, one hand holding the back of his head and the other rubbing his back up and down. “I’m so sorry, Snap.” She told him in a soft, gentle voice. “I am so sorry.”

“No...I...” Snap’s voice trailed off after that and he just...gave in.

Sandra widened her eyes a bit when she felt Snap grabbing onto her. But she didn’t move nor did she attempt to push him away as he held onto her tightly. She could feel his hands pressing up against her, his head pushing up against her body. At this point, it was clear that Snap did not care who he was holding onto; he just wanted to seek comfort in some way.

And she provided that for him. With his emotions overwhelming him, the small blue and white zoner was desperate to find some relief from it, and he was willing to take it from anywhere. Even from her. And so he continued to hold onto her firmly, pressing his face against her light blue body and just...crying.

Sandra tried not to growl as she heard the zoner start to cry like that. She struggled to keep herself under control, not wanting to do anything to ruin this moment. She just...held onto him, keeping him in a nice, secure hug. She whispered soft, gentle words to him as she continued to stroke him. She tried not to pay any mind to how his tears were wetting her skin, and she ignored the mucous coming out of his nose the best that she could.

She was not sure how long Snap cried like this. But regardless of how long it was taking, she still held onto him. She could feel Snap slowly, surely, start to give into her further. She could feel his body starting to become more lax, his energy depleting from him rapidly. His crying soon began to settle down as well, soon becoming nothing more than broken whimpers. And these had begun to weaken as well, to the point where she couldn’t hear them much at all.

Sandra eventually pulled away from Snap and she stared down at him, trying to look as sympathetic as she could. She could see how tears still leaked down his face. She could hear him giving a few soft sniffling sounds, his eyes looking all red and puffy. She tried to look at him as sympathetically as she could, reaching down and stroking his cheek gently.

“Oh you poor, sweet little child..” She began. Snap kept his gaze down low, looking rather defeated. “I know what it is like to have a friend abandon you like that.” She struggled not to make mention about what Snap had done to her. “You put all your faith into someone...and that is the thanks that they give you. That is how they show how ‘loyal’ they are to you...” She growled softly before forcing herself to sigh. “Well you don’t have to worry about me doing that, Snap. I promise I wouldn’t leave you hanging.”

It was hard to tell if Snap was comforted by this or not. He didn’t look away from her, though. He just kept staring, his eyes going wide, his mouth dropping open further. He took in a few deep breaths, looking as if he wanted to say something. Yet he couldn’t bring himself to do anything except a little bit of stuttering.

Sandra smiled the best she could at him, trying to look as reassuring as possible. “You can trust me, Snap. I can promise you that. I promise you will be safe with me.”

Snap stared at her for several moments, but he still remained silent.

Sandra held onto his face with both of her hands. She gently pulled him in closer, putting her face close to his. “I know you want to have some form of justice, am I right? I can see it in your eyes. You trusted Rudy and he abandoned you. They all did. They left you here to fend for yourself.” She tilted her head to one side. “Wouldn’t you want to get back at them? Don’t you want to make them pay for what they have done to you?”

Snap stared up at Sandra, blinking slowly. He turned his head down, staring into nothingness. His gaze moved from one side to the other in a slow pattern. He opened his mouth, then shut it, gritting his teeth. Then, at last, he looked up at her, narrowing his eyes into slits. “...Yes.”

Sandra couldn’t help but feel shocked by that answer. A part of her had expected Snap to put up a tougher fight than that. But oh well; at least he was responding just as she hoped that he would. She curled her lips back into a broad smile, giving a soft chuckle. “I know how you can accomplish this. I already have a plan set in motion. I do need some help with it, though.” She tilted her head to one side. “How about you help me?”

Snap nodded his head slowly in response, his eyes narrowing further. “Okay... I will.”

Sandra couldn’t help but grin at this. She could feel herself swell up with excitement upon realizing that she seemed to have finally gotten through to Snap. It seemed that, at long last, she had finally submitted to her. Her sessions with him were paying off at last.

She leaned in and she gave him another kiss on his lips. And this time, not only did Snap not fight back, but he did something that she did not expect him to do this fast, and it only made her more excited: He began to kiss her back.


	42. When Things Look Too Easy

My philosophy is that things are just as wrong as they seem.  
-Because Of Me, Seether

sss

Dr. Crobat let out a small groan as he forced his eyes open. He felt an ache spreading throughout his body, making him feel a little dizzy. As he forced himself to sit up, he was struck so hard by this sensation that he nearly fell back down into the ground. Feeling his way around, his vision still blurry, he managed to locate a wall near him. He grabbed onto it and he leaned himself against it, breathing in heavily.

For several moments, he struggled to remember just what had happened. He gritted his teeth and let out another groan as he tried to cope with the dull ache in his head. It felt almost like he had fallen asleep for hours or something. Yet he could not remember actually falling asleep. In fact, all that he could remember....

His eyes widened. He had been running, right? He remembered trying to get away from somewhere as quickly as possible. Wait...he wasn’t riding, he had been riding on something. He was on something large and heavy and yet swift. Something soft and green and...

He looked ove rand he could see that, next to him, laid Ripclaw. The massive dinosaur was curled up near him, and he was so close that part of him was actually touching her. He realized that his hand was actually above her long tail. He slowly moved his hand down until he touched her. He found himself leaning against her, seeking out her warmth. For some reason, this did help him feel a little better.

He soon recalled that he and Ripclaw had been trying to get away from Bell. Yes, he was starting to remember now. They had been running as fast as they could, and Bell was trying to get them. Or rather, his men were. Bell was desperate to get them back and had sent out a large group of people to get him. More than what was required. Even that female lizard officer was sent after him, and it had taken a while before he and Ripclaw were anywhere close to having a chance of getting away.

How had they done that, though? He couldn’t really fully remember. He remembered that he had been chased into one of the forested sections of ChalkZone. So the chase had lasted for a long while at that point; he wasn’t too close to the edge of ChalkZone City when he and Ripclaw first started to flee.

But whatever happened, he somehow ended up here, in what looked to be a circular, small cave of sorts. Hmm, no...not a cave. It didn’t look like it naturally formed. It instead looked as though someone had taken their bare hands and dug into this place. It was pretty decent for something made that way, but that did nothing to ease his mind. Someone had to have made this. Someone had brought them here.

But the question was...

...who did?

Dr. Crobat forced himself to stand up all the way. He had to be careful. He didn’t want to end up waking Ripclaw by mistake, and he had to take care not to hit the ceiling; some spots were pretty low. He was actually amazed that Ripclaw would even crawl into a place like this. It just seemed like...just not a place where he’d think she’d want to be.

He took a few steps forward, looking left and right slowly, his mind on full alert. He didn’t want to give his potential captor any alert that he was awake.

Wait, captor? Was he really that paranoid? Well he did have every right to be. He had been nearly incarcarated by a mad jail warden who wanted Skrawl to rule ChalkZone. And he had narrowly missed being captured again because of...who knows what. Of course he had every reason to be cautious even in this situation. He had no idea just who had taken him here. How did he know if they were friend or foe?

Upon thinking that, he suddenly heard footsteps coming towards him from one side. The bird zoner immediately whirled himself around, spreading his wings out in a defensive stance, his talons pressing against the rock. His narrowed eyes could see a form coming in from a shadowy part of this makeshift room. He gritted his beak, waiting for the individual to come forward.

“Wow! You’re really tense! Is that the thanks I get for saving you?”

The bird zoner’s eyes widened at that voice and he could feel himself start to relax a little. He blinked a few times, squinting as he tried to get a good look at the person that was still cast in full shadow. “Taima...? Is that you...?”

Sure enough, when the individual stepped out of the shadows and some of the light actually hit them, it took only seconds for Dr. Crobat to realize that his hunch had been correct. There stood Taima right before him, smiling over at him, nervously yet reassuringly.

“Of course it’s me! What?” Taima raised his arms at his sides. “Were you expecting someone else?”

“Well, I...” Dr. Crobat began.

Taima cut him off. “Oh don’t worry about it. You’re just confused, is all. You did take quite a drop there.” Taima’s face furrowed with concern as he pointed his finger at him. “I had been so worried that you wouldn’t wake up. You’re lucky that it didn’t end up a lot worse.”

Dr. Crobat blinked a few times at this. A head injury? But he felt fine. He...

Suddenly another bout of dizziness struck him, accompanied by a stronger, sharper pain zipping through his head. He let out a groan as he stumbled forward a little, grabbing onto his head. He managed to stop himself from falling by some miracle. He kept holding his head, rubbing it gently. He didn’t stop until he felt that sudden bout of pain dissipate. Once it did, he looked back over at Taima, his eyes wide.

The fact that he had been saved by Taima, someone that he had rarely seen since the incident five years ago, was already enough to shock him. But this injury... He couldn’t blame Taima for not treating it. He wasn’t a doctor, after all. But how did Taima get him here without accidentally hurting him further? And just how did he get this injury to start with anyway?

He did kind of vaguely remember coming across some kind of patch of grass... no, it was vine. Yes, a patch of vines over an opening, and then he fell through and...

Dr. Crobat closed his eyes and seethed as pain once more shot through his head, freezing him in place. Just how hard had he hit his head? Just how badly had he been hurt? At the moment, he couldn’t really tell. Not without the proper equipment. The only thing he did know is that he was going to need to lay down for a little while and rest before he tried to do anything else. So, rubbing his head gently with his clawed fingertips, he lowered himself to the ground, crossing his legs against each other.

Taima looked down at him sympathetically. “Yeah, like I said. A nasty hit.” He put his hand on his hips as he tilted his head to one side. “By the way, just what were you doing running around in these woods?”

Gritting his teeth, Dr. Crobat looked up at the stick figure zoner. “I could ask you the same thing.”

Taima shrugged. “Where I choose to live is none of your business.”

Dr. Crobat noticed a small tinge of bitterness in that voice. He couldn’t help but sigh. He had a strong feeling that Taima still hadn’t gotten over what happened before. Even if he claimed to have gotten better, a part of him was still bothered by it. He wouldn’t be surprised if Taima had chosen to come out here so that he wouldn’t hurt anyone again.

Well, it was indeed his choice and he wasn’t going to press the matters further. Besides, it wasn’t like it was an even important detail. There were other things he had to be concerned with other than just why Taima chose to live out here. So rather than ask Taima any questions, he decided to answer the one presented to him.

“I had wanted to warn the town about Sandra.” Began Dr. Crobat.

Taima took in a sharp breath at this. “Yes, I remember she had returned...” He bit his lip, lowering his head, fumbling with his fingers a little. “I...do regret that I was a coward and ran off when I first saw that she was back...”

“Oh don’t worry. I’m sure many zoners did.” Dr. Crobat tried to sound as gentle as he could.

“I know I shouldn’t blame myself but... I just wish there was something I could have done to help them, you know? I mean...I was there and...”

“Shh it’s okay. Don’t get worked up about it. What’s done is done.”

Dr. Crobat didn’t want to sound dismissive of the lives lost. In fact, that wasn’t his intention. He just wanted Taima to realize that there was no shame in running away. Not many could stand up to Sandra, not with those horrendeous powers of hers. It was only natural for Taima to start running off, especially when Sandra slaughtered so many zoners like that...

“Yes, I know.” Taima said, nodding his head slowly. “I still just...” He shut his mouth firmly, pressing his teeth against each other. He then managed to shake his head a couple of times to try to get the thoughts out of his mind. Then he looked over at him, raising an eyebrow. “So you were trying to warn them about Sandra...and somehow you ended up here?”

Dr. Crobat nodded his head a few times. “That is correct.”

Taima frowned his eyes a little. “Just how did that happen?”

The bird zoner lowered his head. “I was tricked....” He shut his eyes, clenching his beak as he remembered. “I was confronted in this building and...it was a trap and I fell for it and...” He didn’t bother recalling all the details, as it wasn’t important for Taima to know every little thing. Just the overall events that took place. “They took me to Bell, and he told me that he wanted Skrawl to run this place and...”

“What?!” Taima jolted straight up, his eyes going wider than the bird had ever seen them go. “But..how...why?!”

Dr. Crobat shook his head. “I’m not really sure. All I know is that he insisted that Skrawl would make a better guardian than Rudy or the others and...I have no idea why. I mean..I tried to ask him if there was anyone else...” Dr. Crobat raised his hand up in gesture. “...but Bell insisted that...no, it had to be Skrawl. That there was no one else who could be fit to take over...”

Taima stared at him long and hard, his wide eyes looking as if they were pleading with him not to be correct. When he found that this was not the case, he let his arms drop to his sides and he let out a soft, shaken sigh. “I-I-I don’t believe it..”

“Well believe it.” Dr. Crobat narrowed his eyes. “Now we don’t have just an issue with Sandra. Now we have trouble coming from within.”

Taima rubbed his arm nervously, looking left and right. He then stared at the bird zoner, his eyes filling with more desperateness. “...what do you propose we do then...?”

Dr. Crobat opened his mouth to speak, only to pause. He struggled to find something to say. But at the moment, nothing came to mind. He gritted his teeth tightly, forcing his head to move away in one direction. He shut his eyes tightly, feeling the tips of his wings and toes burn in frustration. “I-I don’t know...” He opened his eyes partway and stared into nothingness. “...I just don’t know...” 

sss

“What do you mean, you lost him?!”

Sarando cringed at the sound of his friend yelling at him. Or was he even a friend anymore? He could not longer tell. He wanted to believe that they still had a connection with each other. He still wanted to truly believe that they were still the best of friends.

But..lately, with this crazy talk of Skrawl taking over and... Not to mention the fact that Bell had gotten more and more used to the idea of killing to get what he wanted, he wasn’t even sure if he could consider him a friend anymore. No, this was not the same Bell that he knew. This was not the same zoner that he could call a friend.

Bell towered over him, narrowing his eyes at him, his arms folded against his chest. His eyes were blazing like fireballs, piercing right through his soul. He looked like he was ready to tear him apart at any second. He was almost amazed when this didn’t happen.

And he wasn’t alone. Standing not far from him was Officer Polych, her back bending a little backwards, her tail straight up and curved down. She also had her arms folded, a finger claw tapping in an almost impatient manner. She glared at him with a more piercing glare, her reptilian eyes looking as though they could kill him in a few seconds. And he wouldn’t be surprised if that were the case.

As much as he wanted to say something, as much as he wanted to defend himself, he knew that it wasn’t a good idea to say or do much to provoke either of them. He knew his place. And he demonstrated this by lowering his head and trying to look submissive.

“I’m s-s-sorry, Bell, I just...I don’t know what happened...” Sarando spoke, keeping his voice low, yet still loud enough for Bell to hear him. “I tried to catch up to them. I really did. But I..”

“But you still failed...” Bell growled under his breath, a growly edge to his voice. Sarando merely flinched at this, keepig his head low. He could hear Bell force an exasperated sigh through his mouth. “I thought I could trust you on this one, Sarando. Your flight should have made it easy for you to track them down. But you failed at this one job and I...”

Sarando could feel his heart skip a few beats. He could feel a wave of conflicting emotions strike him. On the one hand, he wanted to tell his friend..no, his ex-friend, to just fuck off. He was getting tired of being his little errand boy. But at the same time, he did still feel disappointed that he couldn’t be of better help. It was such a confusing confliction.

He did manage to raise his head up and look over at Bell. The bull zoner had his head low and he was rubbing his head, looking like he was in a lot of pain from thinking too hard. Officer Polych hadn’t changed her expression all that much, other than curling her lip up a little into a partial snarl.

Swishing her tail from side to side in an irritated fashion, Officer Polych spoke up, “I knew we shouldn’t have trusted you to do this job...” Her voice was low and had a level of contempt in it. “My best friend suffered and because of your incompetence, I can’t...”

“It’s all right. No need to get worked up.” Bell cut her off before she finished. She looked over at him, her glare remaining. “Sarando knows the consequences, and that will be taken care of shortly...isn’t that right..?” Bell glared directly at Sarando as he said this.

Sarando gulped nervously and lowered his head. Giving a few small nods, he said, “Y-Yes..” He gave another loud swallow. “I-I understand...”

Bell stared at him for a few moments, as though to silently drive in his statement. Then he straightened himself up. He took in a deep breath through his flaring nostrils. He snorted loudly and Sarando thought for sure that he could feel it hit him against his face. Then Bell turned his head to the side, staring down in one direction into the forest. “We can’t waste time on that now, however. We need to catch up to that guy before he spreads word about this.” He furrowed his eyes with concern. “He must not be allowed to get away... If anyone found out...”

Sarando, in an attempt to help his ‘friend’ feel better, straightened his shaky body up a little, spreading his wings out. “I do recall where they want...”

Bell glared at him icily. “Yet you couldn’t stop him...” Sarando let out a whimper and cringed away. Bell twitched his ear and turned his head slightly to one side. “Well...what did you see anyway?”

“Yes..” Officer Polych slithered her long tongue out for a moment, a sly, unkind smile spreading across her face. “Where did you see them running off to?”

Sarando didn’t answer right away. He instead took a moment to pause and think about where he had last seen them. He recalled he was flying towards them somewhere nearby and then they vanished and... Oh but where was it? He had to raise his head up and look around, rubbing his hands together, as he struggled to remember.

When he got a good idea of where he recalled Ripclaw and Dr. Crobat had been, he pointed his finger down in that direction. “They went that way!”

“Hmmph...” Bell stared in the direction indicated for a few moments, his eyes furrowing deeply. He then turned his head back down to where Sarando laid. “I will give you a chance to redeem yourself, Sarando...” Bell’s voice spoke, gaining a slightly dark tinge to it. Sarando stared at him, awaiting his new orders. “Go and find them.”

“And bring them back...?” Asked Sarando, somewhat reluctantly.

Bell shook his head. “I want you to...remove them as problems.”

Sarando widened his eyes at this. Though as horrified as he was, he couldn’t feel all that surprised. He didn’t even attempt to fight back at this point. Nothing he said would dissuade Bell from doing this. Once he decided on something, good luck with changing his mind.

Sarando was about to prepare himself for take off when Bell revealed he wasn’t yet done. He motioned his hoof hand towards where the lizard zoner stood, indicating her. “Take Officer Polych with you.”

“What...?” Sarando looked up at Officer Polych, cringing at the smile that she was giving him. “Why do you want me to take her with?”

“Because...” Bell stared at him with an icy expression. “..she is more reliable than you. In the event that you fail...” He gave the lizard a sideways glance. “She will succeed.”

Officer Polych released a couple of low laughs, sounding sort of amused, but sort of not. It was hard to pinpoint her exact emotion. She took a few steps closer to where Sarando stood, her head tilted so that her eyes could stare into his soul. “Think of it as a security measure...” She said as she raised her hands up, tapping her claw tips against each other. “Together, I’m sure we will be...” She spread her clawed paws outward. “...quite the team...”

Sarando swallowed hard at this. He couldn’t stop himself from giving a few small shakes. He did manage to nod his head a little, forcing himself to smile. “Y-Yes...” He said, trying to sound brave. “I’m sure we will.”

sss

The first thing that Mint realized when he opened up his eyes was how badly his head seemed to hurt. No, not just his head. It was his whole body. He felt like he had been falling for quite sometime and..

Wait, isn’t that exactly what happened? He had a distinct memory of falling down...something. He couldn’t really recall for how long. But he knew he had fallen....somewhere. He could still feel the sensation of falling, dropping onto the ground so far away down.

He attempted to sit up but he let out a loud yelp when he felt a sharp pain in his left leg. Hissing and gritting his teeth tightly, he pulled his leg to himself. He looked down at it, making sure that there wasn’t too much damage to it. There was a deep gash along the side of it and he could feel the warm blood dripping down. He gritted his teeth, but at least he didn’t seem to have any terrible wounds on here. Nothing that he could not handle.

Holding his head, he looked around where he was. Some kind of dark room. He could see the edges of the walls, tinged a light red from the small red lights everywhere. The room he was in was circular and the red lights moved around with its shape, going straight up until he couldn’t see them anymore.

Not far to his left, he could see there was a door there. No, not a door. Just a rounded opening where a door would have been. He couldn’t see anything outside that door. Just blackness. If it weren’t for the echoing, dripping sounds, he would have assumed that it didn’t lead to much of anywhere.

Mint looked back up towards the ceiling, narrowing his eyes. They must have fallen down from up there. It seemed quite far up; he was shocked that he made it out with this few injuries. Logically speaking, shouldn’t he have suffered more wounds? Oh well, at least it wasn’t as bad as it could have been. He could not really argue. He was grateful that he could even still stand up.

Moving himself up off the ground, Mint pressed his hands against his hips and bent his back backwards, hearing a small crack. He let out a small ground and he stumbled forward a little, trying to fight off the stiffness and pain in his leg. Once he managed to do that and he released a small yawn, he looked about the room, trying to look for the others.

He could see Penny laying not too far away. She wasn’t moving at all; he guessed that she must still be unconscious. That was worrisome... He narrowed his eyes a little as he moved closer towards her. He walked around her a bit, carefully examining her prone form. She looked almost as if she were just sleeping, though he knew that this was not the case.

He noticed that she had a couple of bleeding wounds herself. One of them was on her arm, another was along her side, and he could see she had a cut on her forehead as well. He winced at this. She had been hurt a little worse than him during the fall. Though she might still be fine, he couldn’t help but grit his teeth with concern. Without hesitation, he quickly moved closer to her, kneeling before her and reaching out with his hand.

With one hand on her shoulder, he gently gripped it and shook her gently. “Penny?” He whispered softly. “Penny, are you there? Please..wake up!”

Much to his relief, Penny did stir. She let out a small groan and slowly lifted her head up. Her eyes fluttered open and she seethed through her clenched teeth. She wobbled a little, but she did manage to push herself up a little with her hands, her elbows shot out at the sides. She shook her head, looking a little confused at first. Then she looked up at Mint. Her eyes, dull, slowly blinked and it took a few moments for her to recognize him. “M-Mint...?”

“Yes, it’s me.” Mint nodded his head. When he felt her start to move, he lowered his other hand to her so that he was gripping her on both shoulders. He gently yet firmly held her down. “Take it easy. You took a nasty blow.”

Penny shut her eyes tightly, letting out a small groan. “Wh-Where are we...?”

Mint narrowed his eyes. He looked up at the room around him once more. “I’m not sure. I think we fell into some kind of underground cavern or something.” He clenched his teeth for a moment. He wished he could provide Penny with more information. But until they actually look around this place, it would be hard to pinpoint their exact location. “I’m guessing we’re several miles underneath the hideout place.”

Penny gave a soft chuckle. “At least the Beanie Boys won’t find us here.”

“Yeah, that’s true.” Mint narrowed his eyes a little. “But we still need to get going soon. We can’t stick around here for long.”

Mint slowly opened Penny up. He looped one of her arms over himself and he pushed himself off the ground with his legs. He allowed Penny to lean against him, holding onto her so that her bout of dizziness didn’t cause her to fall to her feet. He could hear Penny let out a few nervous sounds, and a few small groans of pain. He looked at her sympathetically, his eyes furrowing in concern. He was grateful that her legs didn’t seem to be too damaged, but when he noticed her arm...

It was clear that it was Penny’s right arm that had been damaged. Her dominant one... She still had her left arm to defend herself with, but he wasn’t sure if she’d be able to draw. They still had the chalk Biclops brought to them, which they had separated earlier on so that they each carried some in their pockets. He just hoped that they didn’t run into a situation where Penny would need to draw fast. He wasn’t sure if she could in this state.

At least his arms were fine more or less. If they got into a tight pickle, so long as he had access to the magic chalk, he could draw something. Though for now, he may stick to just drawing walls in order to make it harder for their captors to find him.

A part of him wished that they had been more vigilant with the magic chalk. They could have gotten things taken care of faster if they had just.... But Penny did make a good point before. They should use the chalk sparingly here because it might draw too much attention. Being more discreet was the better plan, only using the chalk when they needed to.

But there was another good reason Penny wanted them to use the chalk sparingly: they needed to get used to not having the chalk readily avilable.

At first, he didn’t understand why. But when she explained it, it did make sense. They were used to having the magic chalk around for ‘easy fixes’, but once that was taken away, they were put in a weakened state. If they relied too much on the chalk, all Sandra, Skrawl, or whatever villain had to do was strip them of this and they were powerless. But if they were to practice not using too much chalk and adapt themselves, they could be better prepared and still do at least something to fight back.

“Did you..ch-check to see what’s outside this room...?” Penny asked, her voice tinged with a bit of weakness and some pain. “Or did you just get up, too?”

Mint bit his lip. “I haven’t tried looking yet. I woke up shortly before you did.” He glanced over at the opening. He stared at it for a moment before looking back at her. “I don’t like the idea of going out there unprepared, but we don’t have much of a choice, now do we?”

Penny shook her head slowly. “No, we don’t. We..” Suddenly her eyes widened. Mint stiffened, wondering if she was going to let out a scream or something. But instead, Penny simply straightened herself up and looked left and right frantically. Seeing her like this caused Mint’s heart to clench tightly. She soon spoke in a barely audible voice, “..where is Rudy...?”

“Rudy? Why he’s right...” Mint’s eyes widened. “..here...”

Mint turned his head and saw that he couldn’t seem to find Rudy anywhere. But..that couldn’t be right. They had all fallen together. He just had to be here somewhere...anywhere... Mint looked around frantically, feeling his heart race as each second went by. But no matter which way he looked, Rudy just...wasn’t in here.

He stared down at Penny, the two of them sharing a shocked expression, their breathing quickened, tinged with fear. Mint could feel his mind spinning around as it tried to process this information. And he knew Penny’s mind was doing the same thing. The two of them tried so desperately to think of what could have happened. But it was so hard to fully think with their minds flooded with several thoughts, most of them centering around just...where the heck could Rudy have gone...

Mint didn’t want to believe that they were truly separated. Yet this state of denial could not really last all that long. What was the point in that? He could see for himself that Rudy was not here. And he couldn’t say that he walked away on his own. That was not the case, clearly. Rudy’s legs didn’t work and he did not have his wheelchair or that contraption they drew on him anymore.

Much to his horror, he really could only think of one conclusion, and that was that someone had taken Rudy away from them while they were unconscious. They must have been out for longer than he had imaged. Someone had come all the way down here, grabbed Rudy, and then moved him away into a new location. Meanwhile they just kept them in here, leaving them like they didn’t matter...

The teenager narrowed his eyes at this, growling in disgust. That did seem like something Sandra would have done. Have the Beanie Boys discard them like they were meaningless while keeping Rudy, as well as Snap, all to herself...

He couldn’t help but feel a pang in his stomach, feeling it twisting. They had gotten closer to fleeing this place with their friends, and yet things had ended up... Not that he could expect less from Sandra. She had obviously thought this through, and she was determined to keep Rudy and Snap all to herself.

Well, they weren’t going to achieve anything just by sitting around here, doing nothing. They would need to figure where their friends were being held. But they did need to find their way out of here first... At least there was this opening. It was the only way out sure, but at least it was a start.

“We need to start looking for them...” Mint stated, clarifying the obvious that the two of them already knew. “I’m sure this will take us somewhere.”

Penny nodded her head. “Yes, I agree.” She let out a small shudder of pain, moving her head to one side. “We still need to be careful. We don’t know where Sandra is or the Beanie Boys or...”

Mint shut his eyes for a few moments. “Yes, I know...” He exhaled slowly, his mind swimming with thoughts. “I know...”

Helping Penny lean against him a little more, getting a good grip on her arm, Mint began to walk towards the entrance way. He moved nice and slow, making sure that Penny could keep up with him. He took care to ensure that she didn’t trip over her own feet or anything, and slowly and steadily, they got closer and closer to the door.

It did feel a little strange.. He was the one with a limp yet he’s the one helping Penny. He wasn’t even sure why. Maybe it was because he managed his pain better. Maybe his wound was not as bad as it seemed. Or maybe it was because Penny had been hit in the head. Well, she wasn’t complaining and he didn’t have that much of a hard time with it. So he kept it up as they continued to get closer to the exit.

When they had gotten close enough, Mint leaned himself forward a little, careful not to let Penny fall. He looked left and then right, trying to get a good idea of just where they were and which why they should go.

This part of the hallway was pretty dark and he thought for sure he could see a wall to his right. They must be at the end of the hallway; he could see more red lights to the left, heading down pretty far. Seeing as it was their only way to progress, he exchanged a nod with Penny before proceeding to head down this way.

Looking around, Mint could already tell that they were in some kind of cave structure. It looked pretty different from most of the hideout that he has seen, though not by much. He just guessed that this meant that they were in some place much deeper than before. They just needed to keeping following this path and try to find someway to climb back up.

It was pretty eerie, the way the red lights flickered about, almost like little flames. Mint gritted his teeth, unable to push off the feeling of forebodiness as the light glowed against his skin, illuminting him and Penny in a pale crimson.

He tried to push those thoughts aside as he did what he he could to focus on moving down this path. He tried to quicken his pace a little carefully, hoping to cover more ground but not being too overwhelming for Penny. He hoped that she would be able to recover from the dizziness soon. If they were attacked down here... He tried not to think about it and he kept moving, pulling Penny in tow.

As they continued down, he wondered just how Rudy and Snap were doing. He could feel his heart sting at the thought of them. He really hoped that they were okay. He didn’t want to think of what would happen if they...

He managed to push thoughts thoughts out of his head. No, they would be fine. They would all be okay. They would make it out of this. They would be able to stop Sandra, just like they did before. And then everything would go back to normal and...

He tried to keep his mind focused as he and Penny continued down the hallway. They would find Rudy. He’d see to that.

sss

Blackness had filled Rudy’s entire vision for...he didn’t even know how long it’s been. He had become aware of a faint dripping noise and the rush of some kind of wind. But he hadn’t tried opening his eyes. He just felt...too tired for some reason. All he wanted to do was just lay here and...

But he couldn’t. He knew he couldn’t. Even in his groggy mind, he recalled that there was an urgent reason for him to move. He couldn’t quite remember what it was. Just that it was important enough for him to get moving as quickly as possible.

But his eyes were just so heavy... It felt as though his eyes had been glued shut, which he knew wasn’t the case. It just..felt that way. He struggled to open them up, fighting against their stiffness. Then slowly, surely, he managed to open them up.

The instant the light struck his eyes, he hissed and he turned his head to the side. He gritted his teeth and seethed through his clenched teeth. He kept his eyes shut for several moments, not daring to open them up. He stayed this like for a short time, and then eventually he forced his eyes open again. He blinked them a few times, slowly adjusting himself to the bright light. Soon, he was able to keep his eyes open and his vision rapidly sharpened up.

There was a large, bright light above him. The light seemed a little low hanging; he could practically feel the heat radiating off his body. He attempted to shift himself around, but he soon realized...

...he couldn’t move...

Rudy felt a jolt of fear at this realization. He attempted to sit himself up quickly, trying to get a good look around and see what was going on. But he wasn’t able to sit up. Every time that he tried, it was like some kind of force held him back. He attempted to twist and turn himself, trying to readjust himself. He was met with similar luck, unable to do anything except just lay there.

Then, lifting his head up and looking down, he could see the cause for his current dilemma. He was strapped down to a large table. It looked like some kind of surgery table. The light shined over his body, which he realized lacked his shirt. He could easily feel the cold metal against his back, making him shiver even harder.

His mind raced with several thoughts, his breathing increasing. Why was he strapped to this table? Why was his shirt removed? Who had brought him here? Was it Sandra? Was it someone else? And just what did they want with him? What did they have planned for him? These and many more questions crowded around the frightened teenager’s mind, causing his heart and breathing rates to continue increasing at a rapid rate.

As his eyes darted around, he quickly began to realize that he was in some kind of large room. It was a little hard to look around as he realized that his neck had a metal strap on it as well. He could only lift his head up just a tad, just enough for him to look around and get an idea of his surroundings. Other than realizing the room was large, it was hard for him at first to sense if there was anything else in here aside from him, this table, and this light.

Wait, he thought he could see something. It was hard due to the glare in his eye from the light above him, but he thought that he could see the faint image of...some kind of tool kit. And perhaps a dresser over there as well. There wasn’t much else that he could make out, though. He couldn’t even see the door to this place, and most of the room was casted in shadow anyway. This light provided the only illumination and it was focused only on him.

Rudy struggled to control his breathing, and tried his best to calm himself down. He forced himself to take in slow, deep breaths, exhaling at steady increments. He did eventually manage to get himself to settle down a little. Enough that he could start thinking of his present situation and what he could do about it.

He almost laughed bitterly at that. Do about it? He was cuffed to this thing. There was no way that he could remove himself from this situation. He could struggle all he wanted to. He wouldn’t be able to free himself. Not with half his body immobile like this, numb and unable to be controlled. He could never truly give it his all. He was trapped here.

But though he could not free himself, he could at least try to make sense of his situation. And maybe even formulate some kind of plan of escape. If he couldn’t get himself free, then he cold find a way to trick his captor into setting him free somehow.

He still wasn’t entirely sure who had taken him. He recalled nothing from the moment that he and his friends had fallen to when he woke up. He wasn’t entirely certain if it was Sandra or someone entirely different. This place did not look nor smell like the place they had been in before. He couldn’t help but theorize that they were in some new place. And if that were the case, then why should he assume that it was Sandra who had taken him this time? Maybe it was someone different.

His heart twisted at the thought of that. He and his friends had already suffered so much already. They had enough problems on their hands. They didn’t need to deal with something like this. They didn’t need to be given another situation that they had to worm their way out of.

But that was just how life was at times, right? You would think that you were getting out of something, and then life found a way to through something else at you. There was really nothing that he could do except just...accept his situation and plot a way to get out of here. He was confident that he could figure out something. He just...needed some time and patience, and do whatever he could not to let emotion take him over.

Then, as he was trying to think of just how he could have gotten here, he could hear something echoing nearby, somewhere outside the door that he was not able to see.

Voices.

“Are you sure about this?”

“Yes.”

“But...”

“Everything will go splendidly. Don’t you worry.”

Hmm...So this place wasn’t abandoned after all... Not that he was that worried about that. He knew that at least one person had to be here. After all, someone had to have tied him up here. Still, it was nice to get some kind of confirmation so that he wasn’t here all by himself. He’d never get out in that situation.

But who were these guys talking? He couldn’t really recognize their voices. They were too distorted and distant to fully make them out. He tried to lift his head up and listen the best that he could. But try as he might, he was not able to hear them any better. So he instead just settled himself down and tried to listen to what he could make out. Maybe, if he listened long enough, he would figure out something that could help him with his current predicament.

“Do you really think it’s fair...?”

“Hmm? What?”

“You know... This. Is it fair that we...”

“Of course it is!”

“But..S..”

“Oh will you stop your belly aching?! Look, I was in denial as well, but you heard what Sandra said. This could be the big break that we’ve been waiting for!”

Rudy widened his eyes at this. So, Sandra really was behind this. Then these voices... He wanted to guess that they were the Beanie Boys. Perhaps he still was back at that hideout after all.

He noticed just how anxious one of them sounded, while the other sounded exciting. He had to wonder just what put them in this state to begin with. Well the nervous one he could understand. The Beanie Boys had been in this state for a while, considering what Sandra had been doing with Skrawl. But why did the other sound so excited? That didn’t seem to match with what he had seen of the Beanie Boys beforehand...

He could feel his gut twisting inside his abdomen. For this particular Beanie Boy to sound so excited... He knew it couldn’t be good news.

“This will revolutionize everything! Don’t you see? We don’t need to...”

“But still... How can we subject Skrawl to...”

“Will you stop worrying about him?! You heard Sandra! This procedure will only make him, and her, stronger! You shouldn’t be worried. You should be fucking celebrating!”

“Maybe... Still, I’m not entirely sure about this.”

“Oh stop being such a worrywort!”

Rudy narrowed his eyse at this. The Beanie Boys were up to something...but what? He tried to listen in some more. He hoped that they would reveal some more information. But at this point, the Beanie Boys had already left, having gone down the hallway further. He could no longer hear them, no matter how hard he tried to listen.

He frowned at this, feeling his head ache and swim with the new information. What were those Beanie Boys talking about? What was Sandra planning? What did Skrawl have anything to do with it? Didn’t Sandra have not much use for Skrawl? But then again, if that were the case, then why did she even keep him alive for...

It struck him then and there that Sandra had...something in mind for Skrawl. Something that would surely give her more control, certainly. And it was something that was going to benefit her in some way, no doubt. He wasn’t entirely sure just what that could be, though. She did have a chance of getting Skrawl’s partnership and she blotched that up real good. Though it was possible that Sandra never wanted to team up with him at all.

But if she didn’t want him for teamwork, then...

...what did she want him for..?

He struggled to think of something, anything, that would make sense. But his mind was drawing a blank. He just...couldn’t think of anything that would apply to this. The only thing that he could think of was that she wanted to use Skrawl’s intelligence for something, but with the way the Beanie Boys talked and sounded, this didn’t seem like it would be the case.

Before he had a chance to continue thinking, another sound began to fill his ears. He turned his head as far over as he could, struggling to stare at the door that he could only just barely see out of the corner of his eye. He could hear...something approaching. He licked his lips and gritted his teeth nervously. He tried to look as brave as he could, not wanting to make himself appear weak before Sandra.

Though after what she had done to him..that was going to be heard.. He closed his eyes, letting out a soft whimper. He couldn’t believe that she... He tried to keep the horrid thoughts out of his head, but no matter what he tried, he just...

Then he heard something ring through his ears. Something that was soft and gentle, almost caressing the side of his face. He lifted his head up as far as he could go, his eyes going wide. It couldn’t be... Could it? No, things couldn’t possibly be that easy. There had to be some kind of catch. There was no way that...

Then, when he saw some kind of shadow forming in the room, stretching along the walls, when he saw the shape of them... Rudy could feel his heart start to flutter and he couldn’t stop himself from smiling.

“G-Guys...?”

sss

Despite the pain that she was in, the moment that Penny saw Rudy strapped to the table like that, she immediately wrenched herself free of Mint and rushed over to his side. Her heart pounded inside her head as many thoughts raced through her mind.

What had been done to him?

Who did this to him?

What did they plan on doing to him further?

These and many more questions crowded inside of her mind, causing her to shake and shiver. She could feel herself start to become nauseous and she was surprised that she didn’t throw up. Though she managed to control herself, when she was at Rudy’s side, she just couldn’t stop her shaking, her wide eyes staring down at him as she surveyed him to see if he had any injuries on him.

“Rudy! What happened!” That was the first thing she thought to ask. Her wide eyes refused to leave Rudy, and she kept on scanning him over and over, unable to stop her quick breathing.

Thankfully, Rudy didn’t seem to be in as much pain as she thought. Or if he was, he did a good job of hiding it. He gave her a small smile, a sight that caused her eyes to water. “I’m glad that you guys are okay.”

Penny smiled at this. But then her eyes furrowed slightly and she repeated her question. “Rudy, what happened to you?”

Rudy closed his eyes tightly, as if to try to remember. He stayed like this for several moments before he reopened his eyes. He looked back up at his friends and he shook his head. “I’m sorry...I really don’t know. I just woke up here.”

“You were obviously taken here while you were still out cold.” Mint said as he walked up to them. He took position beside Rudy on the other side, his eyes surveying his injuries and flinching at the sight that he was beholding. “Oh gawd... I... Why would they need his shirt off..?”

Several horrible thoughts ran through Penny’s mind at this. She had some pretty good ideas on why they would remove Rudy’s shirt. But she didn’t want to focus on that now. She instead moved her eyes up to where Rudy was cuffed into the board. Silently, without saying a word, she walked up to one of the cuffs and reached her hand over to examine them.

They were pretty smooth and hard. They looked as if they would take a lot of effort to break free out of. A bit overexcessive for someone who could not use their legs. Not that she excepted less from Sandra. She was positive that this is who had done this to Rudy. And after what they had seen her do to Rudy...

She struggled to keep those wretched thoughts out of her mind. Sandra would get her punishment in due time. There was no way that she was going to get away with what she has done. She wasn’t entirely certain what kind of punishment she’d recieve this time. But at this rate, Penny had a strong hunch that, no matter what they chose, many people, including herself, would feel that she was getting off too easy.

Rather than letting herself continue to think about that for too long, Penny reached into her pocket and pulled out one of the pieces of magic chalk. Turning her attention to where Rudy was strapped down, she moved herself a little closer and reached out with the magic chalk. Drawing a line around the cuff, it took only seconds for a hole to materialize, freeing that arm. This had been easy to accomplish despite her right arm hurting her. Not like it takes much effort to draw a simple circle, right?

Once she had repeated this same process with his other limbs, she and Mint helped Rudy to sit up. They didn’t take any further steps for about a minute. They allowed Rudy some time to rub his wrists a little, his hand moving up and down each other. At no point did he try doing his legs. After all, he couldn’t feel them that well. Only once he was done doing that did they take the next step.

“We need to give him a mode of transportation.” Penny stated. She frowned deeply as she looked from Rudy and then down the hallway that they had come out from. “It would take us too long if we carried him.”

“Not that I would want you to do that.” Rudy stated with a tiny smile, an attempt to lighten up the mood a little. “That would be...kind of embarrassing, don’t you think?”

Mint gave a playful smirk at Rudy. “Well, you’ve always been pretty scrawny. I’m sure I could lift you up no problem.”

“Mint!” Rudy cried out. He looked mad, but his voice gave away that he was just relieved that he was found at all.

Not wanting them to waste too much time, Penny moved over to Mint and jabbed him in the side with her elbow, ignoring the small bout of pain that this caused her. Mint limbed a little to the side, causing Penny to flinch and feel some regret. But rather than apologize, which wasn’t important right now considering their situation, she said, “Draw Rudy a wheelchair.”

Mint looked over at her, his eyebrow raising up. “What about just recreating that contraption from before.” He raised his hand up in gesture. “Wouldn’t he be able to move quickly with those?”

“Yes, but it’s also harder for him, remember?” Penny said as she raised a finger up. “It might end up becoming a hinderance if we have to do a lot of running.”

“It was already giving me trouble before. That thing requires concentration and....” Rudy’s voice trailed off, flinching for a short time. He licked his lips for a bit before he managed to continue with, “I just feel like it would slow me down... I would rather use the wheelchair. At least I don’t have to worry about constantly tumbling over if my mind becomes too preoccupied with too many things at once...”

“But... Well okay...” Mint took out a piece of chalk. “I don’t like it, but if that’s what you want...”

Mint walked away from the other two, to where he had more room. Then he began to draw the wheelchair. He started off with the wheels, and then the seat and then the extra details. Before long, Mint was able to finish drawing the wheelchair, allowing it to materialize right before them.

Penny was pretty impressed with it. For a chair that was drawn rather fast, Mint did put quite a bit of work into it. Of course, this wheelchair could not be used in the Real World for obvious reasons. But in this world, this wheelchair would be perfect. The wheels were pretty thick and looked sturdy enough to handle the terrain here. There were some speed options so that Rudy could move faster if need be. There was a buckle so that he wouldn’t be so easily thrown from the device. And the brain on there didn’t look half bad.

There was no time to waste complimenting on Mint’s artwork, however. They now had to take the next step, and that was getting Rudy actually into the chair. She looked over at Mint and gave him a small frown, nodding her head. Mint got the hint almost immediately and he came over towards her. They took position on either side of Rudy. They both took a hold of one of his arms. Then, easing him forward off the table, they got him standing straight up, his legs flopped out awkwardly.

Being as careful as they could, they began to move the boy over towards the wheelchair. They ignored their own pain as they lifted Rudy up a little, making sure that his feet did not drag along the ground too much.

When they reached the wheelchair a short time later, they lifted him up even further and helped him into the seat. Penny could feel a wave of relief move through her injured arm. She hardly paid attention to it as she watched Mint draw Rudy a makeshift shirt to wear temporarily. Then she and Mint worked to strap Rudy into the wheelchair itself. The belt zippeda cross Rudy’s chest and across his leap, ensuring that he wouldn’t be thrown from his chair in the event of Sandra knocking him down.

Rudy took a few moments to readjust himself in the chair a little. He looked all around his new, though temporary, wheelchair, moving his hands around it as though trying to get a good feel of it. He peered down at the control panel located on his right. He moved his hands over the button and then along the joystick used to move the thing forward. Gripping the joystick for a moment, he pushed it forward. He let out a yelp as the chair suddenly lurched forward, causing him to jerk a little. He immediately stopped and he looked over at his friends.

“This could take some getting used to.” He admitted. “My last chair was a manual.”

“Which is why I made this one....I guess you could call it automatic? Well anyway...” Mint pointed his finger at the panel located on Rudy’s wheelchair. “...this will free up your arms so you don’t have to worry about them getting tired.” He narrowed his eyes ever so slightly. He tilted his head up, as though seeing something in the distance. “With Sandra around...the less tired we are, the better...”

Penny narrowed her eyes in response to this. She knew that he was absolutely right. Sandra would indeed take advantage of them if they were tired. Especially Rudy.... So it was a good idea to make him something that would reduce his arm usage. At least he could still draw, so he had a way to defend himself. And there were more of them than her; they just needed to strike at her triangle and they could prevent her from using her powers for a time.

Not wanting to waste any further time here, Penny made her way towards the door, feeling a little better from before. She could feel Mint and Rudy’s eyes upon her, watching her as she looked to see if the coast was clear. She peered into the hallway and frowned as she looked left and right. When she didn’t see anything, she looked back towards her friends.

“It’s clear! Let’s go!” Penny called out.

Giving a nod to each other, Mint and Rudy made their way towards the door. At first, Rudy tried to push the wheelchair, but since it didn’t operate like that, he didn’t get much of anywhere. It took him a few seconds to remember that he had to use the joystick. Once he grabbed that and he pushed onto it, he began to move forward. A little wobbly at first, but he did manage to, slowly, get the hang of it.

Soon, the trio of friends made it out of the room. They took another look left and right to make doubly sure that there was no one around. Then they began to move down the hallway.

sss

“Wait... What do you mean we aren’t in the hideout anymore?!” Mint cried out. He stared down at Rudy, finding it difficult to believe what he was hearing. “Of course that’s where we are! We fell from the...”

“That must have been something else. I’m telling you, we’re somewhere else now.” Rudy narrowed his eyes deeply. “This place has a different feel to it altogether. This doesn’t look like it would blend in well with the hideout, don’t you think?”

“Well...” Mint shook his head. He still had trouble accepting that they were in a new location. Something about that just didn’t make sense to him. “Why would Sandra drag us all the way out to some new place? She had plenty of room at the hideout!” He took in a few breaths as he lifted his head up and stared at the area around them. “A-And who is to say that this place isn’t a part of the hideout? I mean...that hideout has some cacti in it!”

Rudy let out a small sigh. He shook his head slowly. “Well...perhaps you’re right. But...” He lifted his head as he turned it from side to side. “I just have this feeling that we’ve been taken somewhere...and...” Rudy’s voice trailed off, and it looked as if he couldn’t bring himself to continue.”

Penny stared down at him with a sad expression. She reached over and she gently gripped onto Rudy’s shoulder. “It will be all right. You’ll see.” Rudy tried to give her a smile, but it was too shaky and he ended up looking away.

Mint gave Rudy a sympathetic expression. Even if he couldn’t agree that they were taken elsewhere, he could tell that the thought was stressing out Rudy. Being in a new location, one that they hadn’t seen before, added more challenge to them. If what Rudy said was right, and this place was not the hideout, then they had to be extra careful. They no longer knew which way was the exit. Well not that they knew as much before, but at least the other hideout, they had a vague idea. But here...

Mint shook his head briefly. No, they were still in the hideout. They just had to be... They were just in some area of it that they could not recognize. Until he saw proof that this location was different, he refused to believe that they had been taken anywhere else.

He and his friends continued their way down the corridor. This place was better lit at least than those tunnels that they had to use before. The corridors were all lined up with red lights. Why red, he wasn’t entirely certain. But at least this provided some illumination here. It became easier for them, especially Rudy, to avoid bumps in the road, as it were.

The corridor here just kept going straight down. They hadn’t noticed any other pathways yet. This was causing them some level of stress. If they were to be ambushed from both sides, they would not be able to run. And though they could create an entrance, regardless if this was the hideout or not, they didn’t know what was on the other side of these walls. For all they knew, there was lava here, and they would burn themselves alive if they made any holes around these parts.

So, having no choice despite their nervousness, they just kept heading down. They would find something sooner or later, even if it was a deadend. After all, this place had to lead to somewhere, right? It wasn’t like a corridor like this could be created without having it have been led in from somewhere.

But no matter how far they walked, it didn’t seem like they were making any kind of progress. Indeed, the only thing that it seemed to do was just...keep going straight down. Mint could feel his stomach growling more, his throat going dry. He smacked his lips together, wondering just how long he could keep this up for. He and the others were going need to rest soon; they could waste all their energy just walking down this corridor.

He had to wonder if this was all a part of Sandra’s plan. Tire them out before they could get to her. He narrowed his eyes, feeling a flicker of realization. Well, if that’s the way she wanted to play it, then..

To help them move along a little faster, Mint took out his magic chalk and flung his left arm about, quickly drawing something. He ignored the confused cries from his friends as he continued to draw, and before he knew it, the device came into view.

It looked almost like a trolley, although it was not powered by physical strength. He had drawn a remote for it instead. There was a slanted platform for Rudy to climb on with his wheelchair and enough space on it for all of them. There was no way of staying on it, though, but he didn’t design this thing to be fast. It was meant to just let them move forward without having to use their legs.

Motioning to his firends to follow, he got onto the contraption. Penny came over next, and then finally Rudy. The wheelchair bound teen took a little longer to get on, for understandable reasons. Then once Rudy was able to get on, Mint held up the device and he pushed a button.

They slowly began to move forward. It was jerky at first as Mint tried to get a handle on it. It was one thing to draw this, it was another ballpark actually using it for himself. But once he was able to get a handle on it, he proceeded to move it forward. Slowly, steadily, they made their way down the hallway.

It really was easier doing things like this. Even if this thing was slow, it was still moving at the pace they were before anyway. And at least this way, they were able to keep moving without having to take a break. They wouldn’t be able to ram their enemies with this or anything, but he did feel safer using this thing.

He wasn’t sure how long they had been using it. But he could have sworn that they weren’t on it for long before they seemed to have, finally, reached a location where they could turn. Wanting to get out of this tunnel and try another one, hoping this other one could actually lead them somewhere, Mint used the remote to control the thing slowly. It took longer than he would have liked, but at least they were down a new hallway this time around.

Heading down this way, he quickly realized that there was already a change. This path was going upwards a little. It wasn’t by that much, but it was enough that it was taking more effort for the contraption to push them. A part of Mint wondered if it was even a good idea to come down this way. But still, this way could lead to an exit, right? So he just kept on moving forward, despite the difficulty.

Soon, they were at the end of the hallway. Well that was quite short. Now,w here to next? He and his friends looked left and right. Both corridors looked the same, save for some of the red lights down the left flickering a little. Then, after silently voting, they decided to head down the hallway to their right.

“I wonder how Skrawl is doing.” Rudy said out of nowhere. This caused Penny and Mint to look down at him in confusion. Rudy ignored their expressions as he continued. “I overheard the Beanie Boys talking about him. And something that Sandra plans to do with him.”

Mint exchanged glances with Penny. He wondered what the Beanie Boys could have meant by this. What did Sandra want with Skrawl? What could she want with him? She rejected his partnership so...

“I have no idea what they have planned, but...” Rudy narrowed his eyes into slits. “We need to be careful. Otherwise...” He sighed. “I have no idea what to expect, really.. We just have to watch our backs.”

Penny bit her lip at this. “We all know what Sandra is capable of.. Especially with that Signal..” She gave a shudder. “I can only imagine what she would end up doing with Skrawl.”

“Well, whatever it is, we’ll just have to be prepared.” Mint formed a small fist with his hand, his eyes narrowed into slits. “We won’t be...”

Suddenly, they stiffened up at the sound of someone screaming. They looked all around, trying to figure out the location of that sound. They struggled to figure out just who it was, but it was so distorted that...they just couldn’t properly identify the voice.

But whoever it was, they seemed to be in trouble. The three of them could feel their guts twisting as they listened to the scream continue to echo along the halls. When they could move their heads, they stared at each other, their minds filled with many rapidly moving thoughts. They knew they couldn’t ignore this scream for help. Whoever this was...they just had to help them. There was no way that they were going to leave someone else at the mercy of Sandra.

Realizing that they had to act fast, Mint reactivated the device, pushing it into overdrive. Even then, it moved pretty slowly, causing him to grit his teeth. Oh that was right. He deliberately designed this thing to be slow. It would not move any faster than this. They would be able to run faster than this. So in that case...

Mint was the first one to get off. Not that it was difficult getting off the slow moving platform. He did still wobble a little and he wondered why he didn’t try to just stop the thing with his remote. Oh well.

Turng in over to his friends, he called out, “Come on! Let’s go!”

With all three of them off the contraption, they began to move down the hallway at a much faster rate. It took them only moments to not only catch up to the platform, but to head right past it. Even Rudy could move much faster in the wheelchair than that platform was moving, though he did hit a few bumps on the way.

The three friends headed down the hallway as quickly as they could. Rudy pushed the joystick forward, pressing the button in the middle of it to make his wheelchair move faster. Mint ran along side Penny, a little bit in front of her. His leg ached him badly and he could feel his throat drying out some more. He hated the idea of having to use more energy, but in this case, he made an exception. He would feel worse about letting someone get tortured by Sandra than he would if he just made himself hungrier and thirstier.

Soon, they reached the end of the hallway. There in front of them was some kind of double door. They stared at it for several moments, staring at each other and looking back, wondering if this was the correct door or not. Wasn’t there another way they could have turned? They thought for sure they saw something. What if they....

“Aaaahhh!”

No, this was the correct one. This was where the screaming was coming from. They narrowed their eyes. They gave each other a quick glance, nodding briefly. They then turned their attention back to the door. They took a few moments to inhale deeply, mentally preparing themselves. Then, without further hesitation, they opened the door.

The very first thing they saw when they got into the room was...well just how large it was. It was massive, looking like it stretched on for at least a mile. None of them could fathom who would need this much space. And then there was all these bottles around, and other scientific stuff. A bit of touch from what appeared to be more fantasy based things. It looked like a fusion of...something.

Mint couldn’t tell just what this room was used for. It was just..difficult to put into words. Most of it looked empty, but he also knew there was a lot more stuff in here than just this initial material. He wouldn’t be surprised if something large was being housed in here, or was going to be. Just what that could be, he didn’t know. And he wasn’t even sure he wanted to know.

Looking all around, he noted all the wires hanging down, some of them looking torn. He could see there were a few tables nearby and some paperwork that had been written on. The place looked pretty clean, so he guessed that it was recently in use.

Though the thought of the person being in here, whoever it turned out to be, caused him to cringe, he tried his best to focus on finding where that scream had come from. Gritting his teeth, he continued to move in a little further. Step by step, he looked left and right. His friends were also looking, with Rudy moving towards the left in his wheelchair while Penny went to the right.

It took them only a minute to find the source of the scream.

Mint couldn’t help but widen his eyes in shock at what he was seeing. “Skrawl...?”

“What? But how...” Penny whispered as she moved to where Mint was. Her eyes stared at the jellybean, examining him up and down. “How did this happen?”

Rudy guided his wheelchair over. “Who cares? Just get him out of there! We can’t let Sandra get him!”

Mint didn’t react. He just kept staring at Skrawl. The jellybean was strapped down to a table of some kind. There was a large machine next to him, and some kind of cliche ray gun aiming at him, a rounded tip sparking a little. Skrawl didn’t seem to have noticed them; his eyes were focused only on the tip of the machine. He didn’t look too badly hurrt, but the way that his mismatched eyes looked...

Mint usually did not feel much sympathy for Skrawl, but in this situation, he made an exception. And besides, if what Rudy heard was correct, then they had to get him out of here, before Sandra came back.

So, licking his lips for a moment, feeling a bit awkward about the situation, Mint moved a bit closer to Skrawl. He tried to speak in the most gentle voice that he could muster. “Hey Skrawl....hold on... We’re going to get you out of here.” He saw the jellybean look towards him, those mismatched eyes filled with signs of hidden fear. Mint reached his hand over slowly. “Just hold still and we’ll...”

“What are you doing here?” Skrawl spoke.

Mint froze at this. Skrawl didn’t sound particularly angry, but he was also not pleased. He looked at his friends before he turned to Skrawl once more. He narrowed his eyes slightly. “Well you could be a little more grateful.”

“Yeah, we’re here to help you.” Rudy nodded his head, his eyes narrowed slightly. “You should be grateful for...”

“I’m not the one who was screaming!” Skrawl snapped at him. This caused the three humans to widen their eyes in shock. If he wasn’t the one screaming, then..who was?

Penny bit her lip for a second. “Who was the one...”

Skrawl motioned his head over in one direction. “It was him!”

The three friends turned their heads, following the shake of Skrawl’s head. They stared down this way for several seconds, trying to find who Skrawl had been referring to. It was a little difficult because this area was darker than the rest; the lights above this section didn’t work. But when they looked hard enough, they immediately gasped in shock.

It was Snap...

The blue and white zoner stood several feet away. It didn’t appear like he was in any pain currently, nor was he injured. He might have been recently tortured by Sandra and she healed him up and left for the time being. Sounded like something that she would do.

The anger towards Sandra was pushed away, replaced with elation at finding their friend again. They began to move towards him, almost forgetting that Skrawl was in the room as well.

“Snap! You’re okay!” Rudy called out, breathing in shakingly from excitement.

“We’re so glad you’re all right!” Penny said, her voice tinged with excitement.

Mint smiled at the small superhero zoner reassuringly. The zoner hadn’t really changed his expression much. It was pretty blank. But then, he imagined he would be after...whatever Sandra did to him. The zoner must be feeling a bit numb at this point. But there was no time to waist. Even if Snap was feeling a little off, they had to get moving before they ran out of time.

“Hurry over here, Snap...” Mint motioned with his hand, trying to encourage Snap to come over. “We have to get going...now!”

But rather than come over like they all expected, Snap just...stood there. He did nothing other than just stare at them long and hard. His blank expression continued to stay for several moments before he began to smile. But something was..off about this smile. It was a bit awkward and rather strange. Not the kind of smile that they had expected to see from their friend. It caused them to exchange glances with each other, each one silently asking the other just what was going on.

Something....wasn’t right here..

Then, after a couple of seconds, Snap spoke. He uttered a single word. One that immediately conjured up mixed feelings of confusion and startlement.

“Sorry.”


	43. Welcome Prisoners

I found what I need in you.  
-Right Here, Staind

sss

“Sorry.”

It had all happened so fast. None of them were prepared for what had happened next. By the time that they realized anything was going on, it was already too late.

The ground that they stood on began to shake. They wobbled a little from side to side as they struggled to keep themselves balanced. Even when the managed to regain their footing, the ground continued to quake louder and louder, and soon the ground seemed to start breaking apart. Before they knew it, tall structures grew out of the ground, arching and bending upwards, scraping as they went along. Then they clamped together, sealing them inside.

Mint’s mind raced as he looked all around him. Where there was once open space, now there was an enclosure consisting of what looked to be almost bony structures. They rose from the ground like some kind of strange plants, leaving behind little space between them to get through. The edges themselves looked pretty sharp; he wouldn’t want to try squeezing through here anyway.

Feeling his mind starting to panic, Mint rushed over to the nearest boney bar and he began to pound his vist against it. Each whack only caused his arm to fill with more pain and he eventually had to stop. Clutching his arm to himself, he seethed as he glared out in front of him, staring over at Snap.

He didn’t have much time to think of just why Snap had done something like this. Moments later, he could hear some kind of buzzing sound. He and his friends looked around, glaring at the Beanie Boys that now made themselves known. They completely surrounded them, ensuring that they remained trapped in the cage. They each held some kind of weapon, all four pointed right at them to ensure that they couldn’t try to use the magic chalk.

Mint found himself gritting his teeth tightly, seething. He growled softly as he listened to Penny and Rudy try their hand at punching at the boney bar structures. He didn’t pay much attention to their words. His focus was entirely on the traitorous zoner standing not far from them.

He just couldn’t understand it. Why would Snap do something like this to them...?

Snap hadn’t said anything after that initial ‘sorry’. He just stood there, his arms resting at his sides, staring over at them, not really reacting all that much. He didn’t seem at all fazed that the ones that he had called his friends were trapped, sealed up inside by these claw-like things, surrounded by the Beanie Boys. There was no reflection in his eyes of any sort of warmth or happiness to see them. It was as if he had truly turned against them.

Mint shook his head at this horrendous thought. He didn’t want to think that Snap would be capable of such a terrible thing. He didn’t want to think that he would betray them like this.

But...well, that’s exactly what it’s looking like right now, isn’t it? No matter how he looked at this situation, he just couldn’t fathom any reason for Snap to do this. He couldn’t think of any ulterior motive, anything that made sense. The only thing that did was...Snap betraying them for real.

“Snap!” Rudy called out, his voice tinged in horror. “What is going on?! What is the meaning of this?!” Snap did not answer.

Penny tried to get a response from the blue and white zoner. “Snap, please... I don’t understand... What’s wrong?”

Yet Snap still didn’t answer. The only thing he did was just stare at them like before. It was actually quite eerie. Snap was usually pretty talkative and chatty at times, and at the very least was expressionate. But here, he didn’t wear any kind of expression at all. Just a blank, making it impossible to tell what his internal thoughts were. He could be happy or angry for all they knew and it was impossible to tell due to the blank face.

Mint grinded his teeth together, feeling his body shake and quiver. He glared over at Snap, feeling his vision start to shift to a red. He could feel his stomach stinging and churning, conflicted feelings rising up inside of him. He felt like he was going to explode at any minute. It was through a deep, determined struggle that he could even prevent himself from screaming at Snap.

He didn’t, however, have the ability to stop himself from hissing out a single word, “You...”

Snap did alter his expression just a tad at this. A mere raising of the brow and stretching the corner of one side of his lips back a bit. The sight of this only caused Mint’s body to heat up even more. He would have said something more, too, if it weren’t for the appearance of a familiar blue dragon.

“Welcome, prisoners, to my humble abode.” Sandra spoke as she walked in fron the side, appearing from the shadows in that area. She was walking with her side facing them, staring at them with her head slightly turned towards them. “Please pardon the mess. I didn’t exactly have time to prepare for you yet.”

“Your abode? Isn’t this Skrawl’s place?” Mint asked, managing to keep himself calm.

“His place?” Sandra motioned towards Skrawl. Her eyes widened in bewilderment. Then, realizing that Mint was being serious, she pulled her head back and started to laugh. “Oh dear me, no! This is my place!” Sandra placed her hand to her chest, giving a grin at the trio of humans. “We’re not in the stupid cactus anymore, or did you not realize that?”

“..what..?” Penny whispered.

Sandra nodded her head once. “Oh yes. This is where my...real work was done. The cactus place was just a front.” She lifted her head and looked upwards. “I am glad that, in the end, you will get to see where the bulk of everything was being conducted.” She gave a quick chortle, her shoulders shaking. “I’ll tell you, flying between here and Skrawl’s place was difficult...but I think I managed...” She tilted her head to the side. “...don’t you think so...?”

Mint’s eyes widened at this. So Rudy had been right all along. They really were in some different place. He could almost hear Rudy saying ‘I told you so’. He was glad that Rudy didn’t say that now; it wasn’t a good time for that. And he knew Rudy knew that as well. Keeping himself as composed as possible, Mint spoke up. “What exactly have you been working on here?”

“Oh in such a hurry to know already?” Sandra asked in a mocking tone, clasping her hands together and giving a motion to the side. “Oh my dear creator wants to know what little old me has been doing! That is rich!”

Mint hissed at this, taking a step back. He wanted to say something back at her, but his mind was drawing a blank. So he ended up just glaring at her, which seemed to amuse Sandra oh so much, judging from her expression.

Sandra grinned for a couple more seconds before she hid her sharp teeth behind her lips and looked over to the side. Her head was tilted upwards, yet her glance looked more like she was looking at something straight in front of her. “I have been working on this little project off and on. I took time off from ‘playing’ with you all to work on this. I am amazed none of you guessed just what I had in mind.”

“And just what are you going to do with Snap?!” Rudy called out.

Sandra turned and stared at him almost blankly. Rudy clenched his teeth for a few moments. He glared at Sandra before giving a quick glance at Snap. The two locked eyes for a few moments. There was no response from Snap. Rudy shut his eyes before turning his attention back to Sandra.

“What did you do to him?!” Rudy raised his voice at her, not caring if he enraged Sandra with his ‘insubordination’ or whatever word that she’d use. “What have you done to Snap?!”

There was a bit of silence that creeped along the room. Mint couldn’t hear a word being spoken by anyone. Even Skrawl was utterly silent, although he hadn’t spoken anything after he had told them Snap was the one who screamed. Mint looked left and right, waiting for some kind of response.

He soon kept his glare upon Sandra. He was wondering that himself. What did she do to Snap? In order for him to behave this way... Sandra had to have been involved in some shape or form. Whatever she had done to Snap...

He struggled to keep himself under control. Whatever she did to Snap, she would ultimately pay for it. Regardless of what happens, sooner or later, life would catch up to Sandra and she would pay big time for all that she had done. He didn’t know how long it would take, but frankly he didn’t care. He was satisfied enough with the knowledge that Sandra couldn’t possibly keep getting away with this stuff.

...Right?

Sandra began to make her way towards the risen, boney bars. Her attention was fully on Rudy. Her red eyes moved along his body as she silently examined him like he were some kind of animal. Rudy clenched his teeth in fear, cringing back a little in his chair, but doing whatever he could to show courage towards the evil dragon.

Mint and Penny found themselves huddling closer to Rudy in a protective manner. They pressed themselves against the chair, keeping their narrowed eyes upon the sky blue dragon zoner before them. They all bared their teeth and held up at least one fist at this side, showing that they were fully prepared to fight if they had to.

Sandra tilted her head to one side, smirking at this. Then, as she tilted her head up a tad, she gave a quick grin before she opened her jaws and words began to flow from that dark, wretched place she called a mouth, breaking the silence. “I am surprised that you are here, Rudy Tabootie. Why didn’t you stay in your place?” She seethed through a toothy grin. “I had placed you there so you wouldn’t get involved. I mean..after all...” She raised her hand up in gesture. “You still have a lot to learn.”

Several thoughts raced through their minds at this. Heated blood swept through their bodies, nearly burning them on the inside. The fact that Sandra was the one who had secured Rudy there wasn’t the reason why they reacted like this. No, they had already suspected that she was the most likely culprit. It was something else that caused their blood to boil.

And that was the implications of what Rudy’s position had meant...

The guy was left topless strapped down to the board with his arms out in an X shape. The fact that he was placed on a surgery table didn’t exactly make things better, either. Sandra hadn’t really said what she did, but Mint was already were of her ‘activities’, as well as Penny, and of course Rudy. All three of them took only seconds to understand just what Sandra may have been doing with him there.

Mint didn’t want to think about it. He didn’t want to keep discussing this further. He could feel his stomach feeling like it wanted to empty its contents. The sooner they got off this horrible subject, the better.

He had a feeling that Sandra had ignored the question about Snap deliberately. She may have wanted to mess with their minds a little, hoping that she would disgust them enough to distract them from...whatever it is she was about to do. Well, in that case, she would have to try harder. They weren’t going to back down that easily nor would they allow her any room to sneak up on them.

“We ask again..” Mint said softly in a hissing voice. Rudy and Penny glared alongside him, silently backing up what he was saying. “What did you do to Snap...?”

This time, Sandra didn’t attempt to dodge the question. “Do?” She asked innocently as she placed her hand to her chest. “What did I do? Oh nothing. I did absolutely nothing...”

Sandra made her way over towards Snap. Mint and his friends had expected Snap to show some signs of discomfort. But to their utter shock, Snap just stood there, not even flinching as Sandra moved in behind him, placing her hands on his shoulders.

“...except of course, rescue him from his promise breaking friends who abandoned him...”

“...what? But..” Penny moved forward, reaching her hand forward. “But we didn’t...”

“We would never...!” Rudy called out, his eyes wide in shock.

Mint’s mouth dropped open for a few seconds. He watched as Sandra gave a small nuzzle to Snap. He watched as Snap narrowed his eyes slightly at them. The sight of this caused him to feel a lump in his mouth. He forced himself to swallow, wincing as it felt as though a rock had been dropped in his stomach. Then, shaking his head, feeling his body trembling harder, he grabbed onto the sharp edges of the bars tightly, ignoring the pain that this caused him.

“That’s not true! We didn’t abandon him! You’re the one who stole him from us!” Mint panted heavily. He could feel his mind swimming faster and faster. He looked from Sandra and then to Snap. His eyes filled with horror and desperation. “Please..tell her, Snap! Tell her that we would never abandon you!”

“We were doing all we could to find you! Please...we would never have left you behind...” Rudy took in a few shaky breaths. He had a slight broken sound to his voice, as though he were about to cry. “Please, Snap... Please...I...”

Snap merely growled at this, his lip curling up slightly. He turned his head to the side. The glare that he gave out of that one white eye was absolutely chilling. One would think that he could have the power to make everything winter in the blink of an eye. “Oh don’t flatter yourselves...”

“But..Snap..” Rudy tried to say. “We’re your best friends... You know that we would never abandon you...”

Snap let out a scoff at this. “Could have fooled me...” He lowered his head slightly, his eyes narrowing into slits. It felt as though a thousand emotions was being released from his facial expression alone. “Then why did you leave me behind to die...?”

Penny took in a sharp breath at this. “Snap! You know that we didn’t...”

“Just leave me alone!” Snap growled as he turned his head away, his teeth clenched in utter disgust. “I don’t want to speak to you! Not after what you did to me! Just go away!”

The group of humans remained silent for several moments, their eyes blinking slowly, their hearts pounding in their chests. They glanced at each other before looking back down at Snap. They struggled to control their breathing, but they found it hard to stop themselves from panting. They licked their lips nervously, struggling to control their chilled, swimming minds.

“S-Snap....”

“You heard him!” Sandra called out to them. Her eyes were halfway closed as gave them all a twisted smirk. “He doesn’t want to have anything more to do with you! As you can see..” Sandra tightened her grip on Snap’s shoulders, straightening herself up behind him. Her tail curved in one way and her head in the other, making her look almost snake-like in appearance. “He no longer associates himself with promise breakers...” Her eyes narrowed as she released a small growl. “Especially those who pretend to be his friends...”

As if to confirm what Sandra said, Snap glared back at the humans, his mouth contorting into a vicious snarl. He said nothing more, but his expression said everything. Seeing this caused the teens’ hearts to feel like they had become too cold to beat anymore.

Mint struggled to control his breathing. He struggled not to allow his emotions to get the better of him. Yet despite his attempts, it was just so temping to just....scream at Sandra, demanding to know what the fuck she had done to Snap to make him think that they abandoned him. Snap would know better than that. Sandra must have done...something to make him think like that.

But he was fully aware that there was little chance that Sandra would explain what she did. He could only guess that she found a way to decieve Snap, making him want to betray them. Though he felt a pang of hurt at this, the sting of betrayal wasn’t enough to make him feel all that angry at Snap. He was still a victim in all of this. They just had to find a way to get through to him, even if it was going to be difficult.

Sandra did not give them much time to dwell on their current predicament. She folded her arms behind her back and she began to stride over to where Skrawl was. Rather than yell at her, they all noticed a more fearful reaction out of him. Mint’s mind snapped with white memory flashes as he recalled that Sandra had, most likely, done something similar to what she had done with Rudy on Skrawl. And Snap probably...oh gawd...

Mint didn’t have long to fully comprehend that realization as Sandra began to speak, choosing a tone that made it sound like she was some kind of gameshow host, ready to unveal some kind of secret prize or something.

“I am so glad that you could join me for this. I have been waiting to reveal this for quite some time now. It’s really my pride and joy.” Sandra clasped her hands together, holding it close to her chin. Her eyes narrowed as she spread a dark smile across her face. “And Skrawly here is going to help me demonstrate it.”

In a flash, Skrawl went from looking terrified to being furious. He struggled against his binds, shouting, “Stop calling me Skrawly!” It would have been humorous if not for the serious situation that they were all currently trapped in.

Sandra just chuckled lightly at his response. She then turned her attention back towards the humans. She motioned her hand towards the structure above Skrawl before she gave a sideways, grinning glance at them. “Impressive, isn’t it? I have been working on this for a while. It’s amazing the kind of stuff you can think of when you’ve been locked away in isolation for five years...” She released another chuckle before she suddenly went quite, her voice darkening. “Isn’t that right...?”

Mint and his friends merely glared at her. It wasn’t like she was going to listen to anything that they say. They knew that she was already fully aware that she was the one who got herself trapped in the first place. She just doesn’t want to admit it. She just wanted to keep acting as if she were some kind of victim or something. The disgusting little dragon...

Sandra continued to smirk at them for several moments before she turned her back towards them. She straightened herself a little, her back bending backwards, her hands on her hips. She tilted her head up and she peered up at the machine once more. There was some sort of glint in her eyes, a flash of hidden promises. Mint clenched his teeth tightly and he could feel tense auras coming off of Rudy and Penny.

“Yes, this machine is going to change...everything...” She tilted her head down, letting out a hissing laugh, her teeth gritted firmly, her eyes narrowing further as her mouth stretched back and upwards. She turned her head and gave them backwards, sidewards glance with one eye. “I would love to see you try to stop this. Really, go ahead and try. It would be quite exciting to see, really. I would quite enjoy the...entertainment...”

“You monster!” Rudy called out.

Snap took a step forward. “Speak for yourself!”

This was enough to make them shut up. Not because it was a threat, but because of the idea of Snap saying anything at all to defend Sandra was just...not something any of them could really comprehend. It went right over their minds.

Sandra raised her hand up. “Now Snap. No need to get too worked up.” Snap’s expression softened up a little as he looked over at Sandra. “They will get theirs in due time. You will see.” Snap nodded his head at this before smirking at the three humans.

The three teens flinched at this. Once more, they could feel a cold wave rushing right through them, feeling their hearts tighten. They exchanged worried glances at each other. With Snap convinced that they were truly the bad guys, what was it going to take to convince him that this was not the case? How were they going to show Snap that they were still his friends?

But, as much as they did not want to push this aside, they all knew that they had little time to worry about that. They would figure out what to do with Snap later. At the moment, they really needed to focus on the task at hand. If they didn’t figure a way out of this soon...

Sandra’s lips curled back into a vicious grin. “I know exactly how all this is going to go down...” She turned her head to where Skrawl is. “I know you were going to just keep pleading for me to let you go..”

“You wish...” Skrawl hissed. He tried to sound brave, but the moment that Sandra leaned in towards him, he immediately stiffened and looked away, as though afraid to get hit.

“Heh, I thought so.” Sandra said with a grin. She then made her way towards the three trapped humans, swishing her tail from side to side. “And as for you three.. You’re going to try to find a way out of this, aren’t you?” She tilted her head to one side, her ears flopping as she did so. “I can see it in your eyes. You must be formulating a plan already, and you are just waiting for the right time to enact on it.”

While that wasn’t exactly accurate, it wasn’t like either of them were going to say something. Even if one of them told her, even if they insisted, that they hadn’t really figured anything out yet, Sandra would think they were lying. So the only thing they thought to do in response was just....glare at her. Not like they could do anything else. Not with the Beanie Boys still having their weapons pointed right at them.

“Well, why don’t I just save you the effort and get things moving along faster? I mean...” The dragon shrugged her shoulders. “I know that some villains, like Skrawl here...” She pointed a thumb in his direction. “..would just give enough delay that you could do something. Such fools.”

“Hey!” Skrawl cried out.

Sandra ignored him. “But I don’t plan on doing that. Oh no...” She had a glint in her eyes. “You will have no chance to stop this...”

Mint, Rudy, and Penny just glared at her.

“Of course, it is a shame that you are here.” Sandra stared over at Rudy, her eyes narrowing softly. “I had been hoping to keep you out of the mix. But I see that you could not resist anyway.” She eyed him carefully, as if to note his slightly cringing body in the wheelchair. “I’ll just have to make sure that you don’t get too...damaged. I would hate for you to have to miss out on your...sessions.”

Rudy growled at this, though he also couldn’t help but let out a soft whimper. He cringed back further into his wheelchair. On instinct, Mint and Penny huddled in closer to Rudy, baring their teeth in Sandra’s direction. They moved their arms around Rudy protectively, shielding him the best tha they could.

Sandra was amused by this display of protectiveness. Giving a quick chuckle, she ‘hmmphed’ and pulled her head back, forming a sort of S-shape with it, like a snake. “Anyway, I do think it’s time that I begin.”

She made her way back towards the table that Skrawl was strapped down upon. She took position beside him. She then raised her foot up and kicked it against the ground hard. This seemed to have activated something. There was a loud screeching sound as something opened up, and they could see something rising up out of the ground.

It was some kind of panel. It situated itself right next to Sandra, the panel open and having a slight glow to it. The sight of it made the humans gulp nervously. Just...when did Sandra had time to build this? Or did she build it at all? Did she just learn of this place and....

It didn’t matter in the end. This panel, it must be some kind of control mechanism. But a controller to what? To what Skrawl was strapped to? Yes, that had to be it. And with the way Sandra kept looking at it and the machine, the way she leaned in and pressed a few buttons and hearing each distorted beep... Mint and his friends huddled even closer together, trying to mentally prepare themselves for...whatever it is that they are about to witness.

“Go ahead and watch. Take a nice, good look. I’m sure you will find this...quite interesting.” Sandra said with a sneer.

“What are you doing? Don’t you even thing...” Skrawl started to shout as Sandra returned to the panel. “Are you even listening to me?! Sandra!” When the machine started to make a sound, when the tip suddenly had a glow to it, Skrawl became noticeably more afraid. “Wait! Don’t! I...”

Sandra refused to listen, and in moments, she pressed some kind of button. There was a loud click and then...all seemed to be silent for a few moments. Mint and his friends watched in morbid curiosity at where Skrawl was, who was squirming against his metal cuffs that held him down. Then there was a bright white beam that seemed to just..explode right then and there, spreading its light in all directions.

Mint, Rudy, and Penny watched in horror as Skrawl suddenly erupted in a loud scream. Then, as the light continued to get brighter, they turned themselves away, huddling up against each other and shielding their eyes from the intense light.

sss

Dr. Crobat cringed as far back as he could as he glared at the two individuals standing before him. He panted in and out quickly, struggling to keep his mind under control, trying not to make himself look afraid, even if he currently was.

He thought that they would be able to get away. He thought that, so long as he and Ripclaw and Taima had kept running quickly, they would be able to find a way to escape their pursuers. Even if their pursuers were completely relentless, never attempting to slow down or stop, he thought that they had..some kind of chance.

They had been wrong.

Dr. Crobat could not even begin to recall the details that led up to this situation. He could not fully remember how he ended up cornered against a forest tree. He could not remember how Ripclaw had gotten trapped in the thick patch of vines. He could not remember how Taima ended up being held by another bird zoner, his arms behind held painfully against his back.

The only thing that he did recall is that, somehow, they ended up trapped here, up against a groove in the mountain. There was nowhere for them to go. Even if Ripclaw and Taima were not...distracted so to speak, they would still need to get past these two. And that was going to be hard when they both wielded some kind of taser gun.

“Well well, looks like we finally caught you.” The lizard zoner spoke, her tail swishing from side to side. He recognized her as Officer Polych, the same one that he had encountered before. She regarded him with the same level of contempt as before. “You gave us quite the run for our money. But...alas, it wasn’t good enough, now was it?”

Dr. Crobat dared not speak. He didn’t want to do anything in incur her wrath. He looked at the taser gun that she held, licking his beak nervously. He tried to think of some way that he could get out of this. But even flight as not an option; if he made the attempt, then Sarando, was it, would be able to stop him quickly.

“You all cheated, you...” Taima started to say. He was immediately stopped when Sarando began to bend his arm a little further, causing Taima to let out a scream.

Officer Polych turned her head, glaring at him. “I would keep my mouth shut if I were you.” She slithered her tongue out a few times as she spoke. “We hadn’t planned on killing you right away, but we would be glad to make the exception for you if that is what you desire.”

Dr. Crobat could feel his chest tighten at this. Kill them? He didn’t know that had been the intention. He had thought that she wanted to recapture at least him, but...to kill all three of them...? He realized that the situation was far more dire than he had thought before. They needed to figure a way out of here and fast. But...how?

In response to the threat, Taima immediately froze. He tried to speak, but he soon thought better of it and just kept his mouth shut. Probably a smart move on his part. Ripclaw started to struggle harder upon realizing that Officer Polych had some fatal intentions for them. She twisted herself from side to side, biting at the vines holding onto her. Dr. Crobat wasn’t really sure if she would even be able to free herself in time or not.

“It would indeed to a shame if I have to wipe you all out faster than I had intended. I would have wanted to draw things out a least a little while longer.” Officer Polych raised a hand up, tapping a long, sharp claw against her chin, her mouth spreading into a dark smile. There was clear, malicious intent plastered on her voice and face. “It would be entertaining watching how the one who had killed my friend would react if he were placed in a similar situation.”

Dr. Crobat flinched at this, taking a step back. He could see the way Officer Polych was looking at him as she said this. He could see the way that she was smiling at him, so dark and twisted....

Taima widened his eyes in horror at this. He gave another jerk away from Sarando as he stared over at Dr. Crobat. His mouth dropped open a little, taking in a few quick breaths as he tried to comprehend what he had just hurt. “You did what?”

Dr. Crobat clenched his teeth tightly together. “I did no such thing! You’re lying! I would never..”

Dr. Crobat was silenced when he felt a hand being struck against him. He felt his head being turned to the side and he let out a yelp of pain. He remained like this for several moments, shivering from the pain. Not only did Officer Polych slap him, but she had raked him with her claws too. He could feel the blood seeping down his face. Cautiously opening his eyes, he looked up at her.

Officer Polych bared her jagged teeth at him, her paw still raised up, the blood still dripping from it. “I see you are trying to deny what you did. Isn’t that so sad?” She shook her head, glaring down at him in utter disgust. “You sicken me. At least have the decency of admitting what you have done!”

Dr. Crobat wanted to respond, but he realized that..she might be right. He had been under this horrible spell. He might have done something terrible and not even know it. Even if Officer Polych apparently worked for the peopl responsible, that didn’t change the fact that he might have done something terrible to someone that she cared about. And that gave her plenty of reason to be vengeful.

“I do wonder where I should begin...” Officer Polych ignored Taima’s shouts and Ripclaw’s roars as she shot her hand out towards Dr. Crobat. She gripped onto his chin and pulled him forward. She looked down at him and regarded him carefully. “Should I start by taking out your eyes? Or ripping off your beak?”

Dr. Crobat widened his eyes at this. He could feel his mind swimming inside his skull. He struggled to get away from her, twisting his body to one side. “W-Wait... Please...”

Officer Polych simply smirked in response. She raised her hand up higher, her claws poising as if she were going to strike him again. “Let us see how well you respond to...”

Suddenly, everyone froze up where they were. Their eyes widened and their bodies could not move. Even Ripclaw had stopped struggling when it happened. It was hard to describe just...what had happened. It wasn’t like there was any kind of loud noise or anything. But there was certainly..something that was happening. Something that they could feel in the very depths of their souls.

A cold shiver waved through their bodies, moving up and down. Their hearts were affected by this, evidenced by the increased thumping in their chests. They could feel their internal systems start to kick into overdrive. Out of nowhere, anxious thoughts raced through them, and they all couldn’t help but look around at their surroundings, as if they were going to be attacked. This included Officer Polych and the more nervous and hesitant Sarando.

Dr. Crobat had been the first one to identify what that was. A wave of infrasound that spread throughout the forest. Booming loud despite not actually hearing it physically. A sound associated with several things, but the most prominent that came to his mind was...

...a large beast.

His eyes immediately widened in horror at this. He struggled to take in a few breaths, trying to keep himself calm. But it was difficult to fully relax, especially when the infrasound didn’t stop; it kept on echoing through the ground, gripping at their hearts.

There was no doubt about it. There was..something out there. Something huge. Something nasty. It didn’t sound that close. But at the same time...

“I-I’m out of here!” Sarando shouted as he immediately released Taima, throwing him against the ground.

“Sarando! You coward!” Officer Polych shouted as she tried to get him to stop. She reached her hand towards him and she attempted to grab him, but despite her swiftness and her long jump, Sarando was able to escape her grasp. “Get back here!”

Sarando flapped his wings hard as he stared down at the enraged lizard below him. “You can deal with it if you want to! Screw this mission! Screw Bell! Screw this whole plan! I want to live! I’m getting out of here!” And with that, Sarando flew off into the distance.

Officer Polych glared at him, calling out to him, saying all kinds of derogatory things to him. But nothing made him stop. The lizard gritted her teeth together and let out a loud hiss. She then whirled herself around and glared at Dr. Crobat. “Okay what the hell have you done...?”

Dr. Crobat raised his hands up. “I didn’t do anything! I swear! I...”

He shuddered as he felt another infrasound roar pierce through him, making him shudder. He could feel his mind swimming as he shifted his eyes left and right. He didn’t even notice when Officer Polych grabbed onto him and pulled him forward. He didn’t notice when Ripclaw let out a loud roar or when Taima shouted at her to let him go. He was too focused on that ‘roar that could be felt but not heard’, and what it could mean.

He turned his head in the direction that the vibrations had been coming from. He looked over in this direction for several moments, struggling to keep his heart rate and chilled veins under control. One thought ran through his mind as he stared out into the distance, which he recognized as the desert, where Sandra was currently stationed.

And that thought was...

..what could this mean..?


	44. Shadow Upon Things

There’s a cold breeze blowing...  
-Animal Impulses, IAMX

sss

Lots of white filled his vision. Painfully bright, tearing right through his retinas, nearly burning them. He was shocked that he was still able to see enough to tell that there were also red streaks coming in from all directions. His vision was filled with streaks of white and red for a while before he attempted to jerk himself away.

Rudy could barely do anything to stop himself from screaming as the strong wave struck him and his friends. He could feel debris of...something striking against him. His arms were bombarded with bits of this material and he couldn’t prevent his wheelchair from flipping over.

Crashing against the ground, Rudy grunted as he felt the side of his face smashing against something. He gritted his teeth tightly as he struggled to yank his arm out from underneath himself. Once he did, he attempted to right the wheelchair back up, but from this angle, he found that this was impossible to do.

Looking over, he could see that Penny and Mint were completely on the ground. At first, he thought that they were unconscious and he could feel his heart rate spinning quickly. Then he felt a bit of relief when he saw that they were still moving. Still, this didn’t cheer him up too much, and he found himself attempting to crawl towards them, stopped by not only the angle of his wheelchair, but by the belt that him secured to it.

“Mint! Penny!” Rudy called out to him. He let out a few coughs, his throat dry from all the dust that he had inhaled. “G-Get up! Come on!”

As his friends began to stir a little and pick themselves up, Rudy took this moment to look around the room that they were in. His eyes bulged as he saw the damage that laid strewn about everywhere.

And he wasn’t the only one who noticed.

“Oh my gawd... What happened here...?” Mint whispered as his head turned slowly from one side to the other. He gritted his teeth in fear, his eyes widened a little as if he had seen some kind of unspeakable horror.

“This place looks like a twister struck through here.” Penny commented, her voice low and faint, almost impossible to hear fully. “What Sandra had done... She had...” Her voice trailed off. There was no need to continue.

“What did she do...?” That was the first question that popped into Rudy’s head. And he knew that the others were thinking this as well.

All around them, they could see the remains of this portion of the room. They could see large cracks in the ground and along the walls. They could see a few burn marks, scorching black smoke pillowing out in all directions, obscuring their view of what was in front of them. And up along the ceiling, they could see bits of dust dropping down from the thick cracks.

Most of the machinery that had been located here was destroyed. Several warped marks were present and there were many exposed wires. Some of them were still sparking about, flailing a little as electricity continued to echo through them. A few of the machines had been ripped in half and were laying down at their sides, utterly useless. The large ray that was used on Skrawl was also busted and the nozzle part of it had broken off. It now rested on the ground not far away, covered in black burn marks and a few small sparks of electricity eminated from it.

Skrawl himself, to their shock and horror, was gone. Nowhere to be seen. Where he had been laying upon the table, it was replaced with a deep burn mark, the worst that they had seen. Blackness and a slight glow that spread around the edges, some smoke wafering off from it like it were nothing more than the tip of a large cigarette.

Rudy’s mind raced as he stared at this. What had happened to Skrawl? Where did he go? What did that machine do to him? His mind sifted through hundreds of thoughts at once as he tried to make sense of this situation. Did...Did Sandra just...vaporize Skrawl...?

That was the only thing that made sense. The longer he stared at that spot, the more that he began to realize that this had to be what happened. Sandra had killed Skrawl.

But why? Why in the world would she do that? Granted, Skrawl wasn’t the most likeable person. But to just kill someone for no good reason at all... Well, that was exactly something that she would do. Clenching his teeth tightly, Rudy turned his head to glare up at the dragon zoner, his eyes narrowed into slits. The reason why she killed Skrawl didn’t really matter at this point. The fact is, she had done it, and that just added to the massive body count that she already possessed.

“Dude... She turned Skrawl into puddy!” Mint’s cry of horror zipped through their heads. Even though Mint hated Skrawl, it was clear that he, too, was horrifed by what had taken place. His wide eyes did not leave the spot where Skrawl had recently laid upon for several moments. It seemed to take effort for him to jerk his head away and look over at his friends. And even more effort to say, “What the hell was she....”

Rudy hissed through his clenched teeth. “Does she need a reason? She....”

Their conversation was cut short when they heard a rumble through the ground. The cracks in the room seemed to spread a little further and there was some kind of low, growly, hissing sound. Almost like a sci-fi pod being opened up or something. He and his friends slowly turned their heads to where the sound came from.

Immediately, they were greeted by the sight of something...huge standing over them. The thing was in complete shadow, and was mostly covered by the smoke. It was little wonder they hadn’t been able to see it before. The great smokey shadow thing spent several moments towering over them and the only thing that they could make out that wasn’t a dark shadow or black smoke was some kind of long, slightly roundish outline, and even that was pretty black itself at the moment.

Rudy could feel his friends lifting up his wheelchair, righting it so that he could move. And the first thing he did was copy his friends: he backed away slowly. Not like he and his friends could get far; though their cage was shattered, this only applied for about half the bars. The bottom portions were still in the ground, too high for them to climb out easily. Though they could use the magic chalk, their racing minds and frozen hearts caused them to be too distracted to think about that.

Then, the thing began to move forward. Step by step, pound by shaking pound, the thing came forward. There was an ominous sound, its origin unknown, that spread throughout their ears. They clenched their teeth as they raised their heads up, seeing just how high this thing towered over them. Soon, the being popped out of the shadows, the smoke beginning to dissipate, and they could finally see what had hidden by the black smoke.

It was a dragon.

A huge dragon.

The thing looked impossibly large. Its body was long and stretched out to what almost seemed to be at least twenty feet, if not more. And this included its long tail, which swished from side to side. They could see there were two, shiny blades at the end, arched and pointed towards one another.

It stood on all fours, with a set of large, feathered wings folded against its purple-blue body, which had some small dark blue stripes. Its front limbs looked like large version of Sandra’s, but instead were clearly used to bear weight rather than as wings or hands. The thick digits didn’t look like they could bend as much as Sandra’s could. Not that it seemed to mind; the dragon’s face held a sinister grin, which was partially obscure by the bony helmet that seemed glued to its face, a pair of horns jetting out the back and a single nasal horn that looked incredibly sharp.

The yellow eyes peered down at them, filled with some kind of twisted glee. The creature opened its mouth a little and licked along its lips, which were tucked away underneath the helmet for the most part. It let out a few hissy chuckles, the sound sending chills through their spines. Swallowing hard, Rudy and his friends backed away some more. The fact that its crimson underside almost seemed to sparkle as it laughed did not help them any.

And when it spoke, they all nearly jumped out of their skins.

(Ah... this feels so much better!) The dragon shook its body a little, as if trying to knock off some debris from itself. Its voice echoed through their heads, practically rattling their skulls. (I have never felt so..free!)

Rudy stared up at the creature, unable to stop his body from shaking. The voice wasn’t recognizable, but the tone... The way that it spoke... It was too familiar. Looking over at his friends, it was hard to tell if they noticed it as well or if they were still trying to comprehend the fact that, without warning, there was a giant dragon in front of them.

The dragon just sneered down at this, looking rather pleased with itself. (Of course, I have you to thank.) The dragon peered down at the three humans with its yellow eyes. (If it hadn’t been for your involvement, I never would have been able to do this. Why thank you!)

Rudy had no idea what it meant by this. But he was hardly paying that much attention to its words and more to just...the fact that he was certain taht he knew just who this was. “S-S-Sandra...?”

Penny and Mint looked over at Rudy, both taking in sharp gasps of breath. Rudy forced his head to turn over and he flinched as he saw how terrifed both of them looked. There was an expression of disbelief on both their faces, as if they didn’t want to believe what they had heard.

“Sandra...? That’s...” Mint breathed. His voice shook as much as his body did. “That’s S-S-Sandra...?”

“But...how did...” Penny stared up at the creature, wide-eyed. It took so much effort just for her to speak. “That’s not...possible...is it...?”

Rudy wished he could say something to comfort his friends. Yet, he knew there was nothing that he could say. And even if this wasn’t Sandra, they were still going to be in a situation were they were being confronted by a gigantic, murderous dragon.

It was clear that this thing didn’t have anything good planned for them. The way that those blazing golden eyes stared down at them, the way that the mouth was twisted upward into a vicious grin... There was no way that this dragon had any pleasant plans for them. At any moment, the dragon could launch at them, biting against them using powerful jaws and tear them apart, or whatever else would come to mind.

(Oh dear little Rudy Tabootie...) The dragon cooed, staring directly at him. (Even when you do not see, you are quite inquisitive. A shame you did not use that ability to stop yourself from breaking promises, am I right?)

Penny took a step back, a sharp jolt going through her body. “By the...that is Sandra!”

Mint continued to tremble as he stared at the massive dragon that was Sandra. “How did you...?”

The massive purple-blue dragon, Sandra, merely pulled her head back and let out a hissing laughter. (You can’t figure it out for youselves? Oh my, I thought you three were smarter than that!)

Rudy gritted his teeth at this. He cringed a little in his wheelchair, half expecting Sandra to use her newly massive foot to crush them. “How are on earth are we supposed to know what you....”

(Hahaha that should be easy, you little cripple!) Sandra ignored the glares she got from the human creators as she swung her head back, turning it so that she looked as if she was peering behind her. Yet her hideous yellow eye still stare down at them. (Take a look around you! Don’t you notice something is....missing?)

“What the....” Mint narrowed his eyes, attempting to hide his fear. “What the hell are you talking about?!” Sandra just smirked at him. Mint growled through his clenched teeth. Mint raised his fist up at her. “Tell me, you oversized salamander! I...”

“Mint...” Penny placed her hand on Mint’s shoulder, causing him to stop and stare at her. “Look...” Penny looked around slowly. “There’s...no other zoner in here..”

Rudy and Mint widened their eyes at this. They stared at one another, exchanging shocked and confused expressions. What exactly did Penny mean by that? True, Skrawl got vaporized. But Snap hadn’t been in the line of fire. Sandra was not the only one in here. Snap had to be somewhere in here as well.

But when they tried to look around, they realized that...no, he was not. Nowhere to be found. Rudy could feel his heart tighten at this realization, and he struggled to fight back the tears. What did Sandra do to Snap? Was...was he destroyed as well...? No... Oh gawd no...

Even though Snap had betrayed them earlier, Rudy couldn’t find it in him to be angry for that long. In fact, at this point, his anger was already replaced with chilling horror and fear. He kept looking around, hoping that Sandra was lying to them and that they somehow missed their dear friend. He had to be around here somewhere. He just had to be....

But there was nothing. No sign of the blue zoner. He was gone, just like Skrawl was. Unlike Skrawl, there were no marks indicating where he had been. It was as if he just...disappeared...

Rudy could feel emotion quaking through his body. He couldn’t stop his heavy breathing, his wide eyes looking left and right in desperation. Eventually, he shut his eyes completely and he seethed through his clenched teeth. He shot a glare up at the purple-blue dragon and his voice boomed through the room.

“What did you do to Snap?!”

Sandra merely blinked at him, staring down with nothing more but a twisted smile.

“Yeah! What did you do to our friend?!” Mint raised a fist up at her, despite his fear. “First you brainwash him, and now you...” He could not bring himself to finish the sentence.”

“Tell us what you did to him, you...you monster!” Penny’s voice was laced in rage, and her whole body was trembling from the emotion, matching up well to her equally shaky voice.

Sandra whipped her tail from side to side, each shake seeming to send a breeze in their direction. (Oh you would love for that, wouldn’t you? Me waste my time here and tell you that, when you should have already known...) Sandra chortled at this, her whole body shaking with each laugh. (Well I’m afraid that I cannot grant you that wish. You see, I’ve been waiting for this for a long time...)

Rudy raised up a piece of magic chalk. “Stop!”

Sandra blinked as she stared at the piece of chalk. She did not seem all that affected by it. Not even when the others raised their magic chalk pieces as well did she respond. She just continued smirk down at them with a knowing expression.

(Am I supposed to be afraid? Oh that’s a real treat!) Sandra raised a front leg and pressed the side of it to herself. (I’ll go ahead and alert the authorities and tell them that you managed to catch me miraculously!)

Rudy and his friends narrowed their eyes at this clear mocking statement. They didn’t say anything. Not that Sandra would have listened to a word that they said. They merely growled, gritting their teeth, as Sandra continued to smirk down at them. It was only when Rudy forced himself to look away, wanting to avoid eye contact with her, that he realized that there was something else that happened.

The Beanie Boys were gone as well. Where they had been, holding their weapons to them, now there was nothing. Even their weapons appeared to have been vaporized. Rudy couldn’t even remember when this would have happened and he found himself cringing slightly at the thought. He looked back up at Sandra, lickig his lps nervously. Just what had she done with them...?

(I think I will leave you all alone for now. I have somewhere I need to be.) Sandra turned her massive neck to one side. (I do hope you have fun trying to figure out my little...riddle.)

“Wait! Don’t you dare...” Mint started to say. “Aah!”

Sandra had reacted fast and she took only a second before she opened up her jaws and suddenly, fumes of white flame shot forth. The group of friends screamed as they struggled to move back as quickly as possible. Mint had jumped to the side, his wide eyes looking at where the flames had struck. Rudy himself had nearly tripped his wheelchair into the ground from his attempts to get away.

But Sandra didn’t stop there. She then moved her head around in a tight circle. A line of white fire soon moved along the ground, forming a circle around them. In seconds, there was a literal firewall right in their path, complete with pillowing black smoke that sifted around them, making it difficult for them to breathe.

(I do hope you have fun.) Sandra cooed as she motioned her horn up towards the sky, casting part of her own face in shadow. (It has been fun... But I have some...punishment to dish out...) She spread her wings out at her sides, stretching them up and over, forming more shadows along the ground. (I had thought of destroying you now but.. I thought of something even better.)

Before any of them could get a chance to ask her what she meant by that, Sandra had took off into the air. Even as big as she was, she could still get off the ground pretty quickly. Her wings beat heavily, creating gusts of wind. Rudy and his friends had to huddle up together to avoid getting anything blown into their face. And when it finally cleared, they looked up, glaring at the direction that Sandra had left in.

sss

Dr. Crobat grunted as he was forced against the tree. He gripped onto Officer Polych’s hand, attempting to push it away. But no matter what he tried, she only tightened her grip on him and she glared at him with her teeth bared.

“What the heck have you done this time?!” Officer Polych shouted at him, her voice trembling, obviously shaken by the silent roar just like the rest of them were. “Tell me what you did, you...”

“I didn’t do anything!” Dr. Crobat shouted right back at her, narrowing his eyes as he gritted his beak. “I had nothing to do with that! Now put me down!” He raised up a foot and attempted to grab onto her and force her to let him go.

He never got that far, however. The lizard zoner tightened her grip further as her teeth were clenched so hard, it looked like they were about to break off. Her nostrils flared as she snorted at him, and her expression alone was enough to tell him that she didn’t believe a word that he was saying to her.

“How typical of you. Even when you know you can’t hide anything, you still choose to pretend to be innocent. How pathetic.” Officer Polych tilted her head to one side, her head becoming a little sideways in the process. “I have to wonder how you managed to get away with this sort of stuff for as long as you did. Tell me, do you have some kind of..secret?” She grinned almost maniacally. “Or are you just that good?”

Dr. Crobat didn’t answer her. Using his foot, he grabbed onto her and tried once more to push back, to make her let go of him. But his efforts appeared to be in vain. He would have tried to shout at her again, to try one more time to reason with her. But what was the point? It was not like she was going to listen to him. She was too obsessed with this mindset of him being responsible that she would not accept any other possibility.

So he had no choice but to just try to defend himself. If she was not going to listen to his words, then perhaps she would listen to physical attempts. With his one foot still gripping her arm, and with her glaring into his eyes, she did not notice as he raised his other foot, his toes splawed out, his claw tips glinting. Within seconds, he struck down against her face. Blood immediately splattered and she released him, holding her face and screaming in pain.

Dr. Crobat flinched as he saw the damage that he was able to inflict. He hadn’t meant to hit her that badly and the sight of the bloody, jagged lines along her face was enough to make him shudder. But he knew he had no choice in the matter. Moving himself away from the tree that he was pinned against, he began to back away from her, his beak open partially in a snarl.

Dr. Polych shook her head as she struggled to get the blood off of her face. She wiped her paws against her face, getting the blood off of it. Some of it got into her nose and she snorted a couple of times. She sneezed once or twice as she struggled to get the caking blood out of her nasal cavity. She tried to glare at her him, bu she quickly let out a pained hiss as some of the blood dripped into her eyes. The sight of it was uncomfortable to watch and Dr. Crobat had to force himself to look away.

As he did so, he saw that Taima and Ripclaw were coming right for him. They moved as quickly as they could, trying to get by his side as soon as they could. He could see the urgent looks on their faces and he couldn’t help but smile. Taima had worked faster than he thought to free Ripclaw and that kind of speed was exactly what they needed.

He took a moment to look back at where Officer Polych was. He gritted his beak as he saw that she was still thrashing about. He appeared to have hurt her worse than he had intended. The blood flow hadn’t really slowed down all that much. She was still squirming about, pawing at her eye, letting out a few secreams. He must have actually damaged her eye in some shape or form when he had struck her. Oh gawd....

He shook his head at this thought. Now wasn’t the time to self pity or to feel much regret. They had somewhere that they needed to be and she was just going to slow them down. Turning his attention away, he moved over to where Ripclaw and Taima were waiting for him.

Taima smiled down at him as he reached his hand over. Dr. Crobat took it and he was helped up onto the back of Ripclaw. The massive green beast began to turn around at the tugging of Taima. Her massive head swung over in Officer Polych’s direction for a moment and she glared at her. There was a low growl that rumbled through her body. But thankfully, the utahraptor didn’t let herself be distracted by the lizard’s bloodied, flailing body for too long. Soon she was looking at the direction that the roar came from and she gave a loud hiss.

Dr. Crobat and Taima exchanged nervous looks. Neither of them were happy about this idea. Neither of them really wanted to go through with this. That roar was just... They shuddered at the thought of it. The more that they could stay away from it, the better.

But they had no choice, did they? After all, someone had to go over there and see what was going on. If they did not, then...

Suddenly they were stopped as Officer Polych, who had decided to ignore her injury to focus on them, jumped in their path. She took on a more feral position as she bared her teeth at them, her tail swishing from side to side. She flashed her teeth at them, her tongue flickering in an agitated state. Her hands gripped the ground as though they were feet, and she had a slanted look to her body. She looked ready to pounce on them at any moment.

“You... You’re not going anywhere...” Officer Polych hissed, flicking her tongue once. “I will not allow my friend to die in vain!” Officer Polych gave a twisted smile as she spoke and she allowed it to trip through her body. Her pupils shrank as she gave an insane grin. “I will make you scream just as much as my friend did!”

Dr. Crobat and Taima moved themselves back as Officer Polych leaped into the air. Her hands spread out, her fingers arching and flexing, as if to grab something. She had moved so fast that Ripclaw had barely enough time to get out of the way. Even then, the claws still raked across her leg a little. Not enough to draw much blood, but it did cause Ripclaw to yelp in startlement.

Officer Polych wasn’t yet done, however. Whirling herself around, she charged over and tried again. She bounded along the ground on all fours, her tongue still flicking every so often. She raced over to where Ripclaw was standing, her eyes fillped with insanity. Ripclaw turned herself around, raising her paws up as if to grab. Her head crest rested up slightly as her nostrils flared, her eyes widening. She opened her jaws, preparing to bite.

But it didn’t do her much good. Almost as soon as she lurched herself forward to try to defend herself, Officer Polych was already upon her. Dr. Crobat had to tighten his grip on Ripclaw’s green feathers, as did Taima, as the utahraptor let out a screech of pain. She started to move about, snapping her jaws wildly as she tried to grab onto the enraged lizard zoner.

Eventually, she did manage to snag her tail. She bit down on it hard, causing Officer Polych to let out a scream of pain, and she yanked back hard. Ripclaw shook her a few times in the air before thossing her into the ground.

“Okay, she’s down.” Taima noted when it didn’t seem like Officer Polych was going to get back up this time. “Let’s get going before...” Taima’s voice trailed off. “...R-Ripclaw...? What are you doing...? Ripclaw! We have to go now!”

But Ripclaw would not respond. She kept her gaze over at where Officer Polych was. The reptilian zoner was picking herself up off the ground wobbling a little and brushing herself off. Ripclaw let out a low growl as she made her way over towards her.

Doctor Crobat could see the look in Ripclaw’s eyes and he knew exactly what was about to happen. In horror, he cried out, “Wait Ripclaw! Don’t!”

It was too late. In moments, Ripclaw had already given chase.

sss

Even though Sandra had left a little while ago, Penny still could not get her massive form out of her mind. Even with her eyes closed, she could still see that large dragon standing before her, her mouth stretched into a hideous smile. She could still see those massive, sharp tail spikes, poised and ready to slice her or one of her friends in half.

Penny gave a shudder at the uncomfortable memory. She had no idea how Sandra managed to pull that off. Her mind kept on reeling over and over, trying to find some way to make sense of that. The only thing that would make sense was Sandra finding out some kind of magic trick or something. But when would she have had the time for that? What did she learn while she was locked away in solitude?

But how she managed to pull this off wasn’t as important in the moment than trying to stop her. Regardless of what Sandra did, they needed to get out of this place and try to catch up tot her somehow. It shouldn’t be too hard to follow her, right? After all, she was a very large dragon now. She shouldn’t be too hard to miss.

She looked over at her friends and moved towards them. They were still looking up at where Sandra had fled into, and she could see just how wide their eyes are. She realized she had to snap them out of it before Sandra got too far away. She moved in closer to them, getting right in front of them. She raised her hands up, moving them up and down.

“Hey! Guys!” She called out to them.

Mint was the first one to reply. With a shake of his head, he rubbed his hand against his forehead, looking rather stunned. “Wh-What did we just see...?”

“I didn’t....” Rudy attempted to say. He appeared to be still in quite the daze from what happened. She shook his head from side to side, staring up at Penny with a blinking expression. “Please..tell me that really wasn’t Sandra...”

Penny just exhaled and gave him a solemn expression. She could feel her heart twist as she saw how his face contorted in response to that. Penny lowered her head and turned away. She wished she had better news for him. She wished she could say...something, anything, to help the situation seem a little better.

But she knew that it wasn’t. Sandra really had found out a way to turn herself into a monster. Just how she managed to do that, she wasn’t sure, other than she had figured out some kind of magical spell or something. It would not be outside the realm of possibility. After all, Snap had once been turned into a frog and...

She immediately froze at the thought of Snap. She could feel her stomach burning and twisting inside her body as she thought about what had happened with Snap earlier.

Had Snap really betrayed them? It was a haunting question. It certainly seemed like the answer would be ‘yes’. Snap had done nothing to defend them, and the way he had talked to them, the things he said, the tone, the way he looked at them... It all seemed to point to him fully turning against them.

Penny felt hurt by this. It reminded her of the times when she and Snap had a disagreement or argument, but this felt so much worse than that, because...this just... It wasn’t like those times. This wasn’t just a simple argument. Snap had flat out betrayed them, it seemed, and she could not understand why. What had Sandra told him that made Snap think that they were the enemies? What did she do to him to make him concede into her way of thinking?

Penny wanted to hold onto the believe that it was a ruse, somehow. She wanted to believe that Snap had some kind of trick up his sleeve. But at the moment, there was really no proof of this, nothing to say that Snap was faking it. She hissed through her clenched teeth, rubbing her hand against her upper chest.

“I still have to wonder where the other zoners went..” Mint spoke, breaking the silence. Penny looked over at where he was, and she saw that he had moved away from them silently and was staring straight at the platform where Skrawl had been. “I don’t understand how they could have disappeared...”

“She vaporized them, I’m sure.” Rudy growled under his breath, his eyes narrowing. “There couldn’t be another explanation.”

“Are you so sure about that?” Mint inquried as he looked over at Rudy. He turned his head slightly to one side, giving an inquisitive look. “Are you positive that’s what went down?”

Rudy frowned at this. “What are you saying? You saw what happened! You heard it!” He motioned his hand at where the scorch marks were, some smoke still wafering off it. “What the fuck do you call that?!”

Penny widened her eyes as a thought suddenly came to her. “Wait, Rudy...” She said as she raised her hand up. “He might be onto something.”

Rudy looked over at her in confusion. “You too?”

Mint turned himself so that he was facing Penny head on. He stared at her for several moments before he took a few steps forward. He raised his hand up a little as he said in an inquisitive tone. “What were your thoughts, Penny?”

Penny didn’t hesitate to answer. “I mean, think about it, you guys...” She formed a light fist and rubbed it along the bottom of her chin, her fingers gripping her lower jaw a little. “If that ray of light we saw is what caused them to disappear.. Then why weren’t there any screams of pain?”

“What are you talking about?” Rudy raised his arms up into the air. “You heard Skrawl! He was....”

“I agree that he was in distress, Rudy. But what if he wasn’t screaming because he was getting hurt? What if his wounds were just getting irritated?” Penny pointed out, raising a finger up.

“I...” Rudy suddenly froze, his eyes widening. He quickly frowned as he looked away. “You’re right. He was hurt..and the Beanie Boys and Snap were not...”

Mint chimed in. “And they didn’t scream. So...” With one arm folded, he raised the other up, making a few gestures. “This would mean that, whatever the light’s job was, it may not have been intended to kill. But...hmm.” He stared at the ground as he rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “If that wasn’t what it was used for, then....”

Rudy raised his head up and turning it to one side. “You think that it was just teleporting them?”

“No.” Mint shook his head. “Why would Sandra be so proud of that? Well sure she could transport food, but...”

“That is still a possibility.” Penny had to admit, that did make some sense. Sandra could use that device to send zoners into a particular location where she could kill them. But there was a problem with that theory. “Though with her abilities, this may not be that necessary. Couldn’t she just...I don’t know..mess with their heads or something.”

Rudy gave a shudder at that statement. “She is good at that.”

“But..what is your point, Penny?” Mint raised his hands out at this sides. “If you don’t think that she’s transporting ‘food’ for safe storage, then...what do you think she’s doing?”

Penny shrugged her shoulders. “I’m not entirely sure. I mean...obviously she did something. And it caused her to transfo...” Penny stopped abruptly at that. “Oh gawd...”

“What is it?” Rudy called out to her. “What happened?”

Penny couldn’t answer. She could only stare at Rudy in utter shock and horror at what she had thought.

“Penny...” Mint spoke, concern laced over his voice. “What is wrong? Why did you freeze up like that?”

Penny still didn’t respond. She couldn’t think to even move. She could only stare out blankly, her mouth having dropped open. She took in a few slow breaths, her mind reeling from the shock of what she thought of. She looked towards the ground, breathing in through partially clenched teeth. The thought kept racing through her head and she could feel herself shaking her head against her will.

No, it couldn’t be possible, right? That just... No, it couldn’t be true. There had to be something else going on. Something else that made more sense than this. There just...

But nothing else seemed to fit. It made perfect sense, this wretched thought. It fit in perfectly well with the whole ‘disappearing zoners’ and ‘Sandra suddenly being a twenty foot long purple-blue dragon’ situations. It went hand in hand. It was a horrible, terrifying thought, but at the same time...what else could it have been...?

Penny forced herself to look at her friends, seeing the way that they were looking at her. She bit her lip, sucking it dry. She exhaled slowly, and she began to speak slowly and softly.

“What if she....”

sss

What an insane few days it has been. He couldn’t really remember all the individual details, other than it was quite hectic. Especially with the reappearance of Sandra...

Haney gritted his toothy mouth at this. The very name of Sandra caused him to shudder. It was because of her that he had gotten attacked before. He was in such a vulnerable state, and when she had shown up.. He was surprised that he was even able to make it away without getting too badly hurt.

It did feel like it happened so long ago, though. Like some sort of distant memory that was just mildly inconvenient for him. Though he knew the truth. He knew that it was a recent event and things weren’t about to die down any time soon.

He leaned against the wall near his restaurant. It hadn’t really seen much business lately. Snap’s encouragement didn’t really change much. He did realize that most of the zoners right now were distracted and for good reason. But he had a strong hunch that most of them still wouldn’t come even if safety from Sandra was not an issue. Due to Sandra’s restaurant ‘business’ and the fact that he was a dragon zoner and the fact that his restaurant was open in the same area that had once belonged to Sandra... Yeah these factors didn’t do him a whole lot of favors.

He tried not to let it get to him. Though it was difficult. Perhaps he shouldn’t have allowed himself to get his hopes up too high. He knew coming here that the zoners were not as receptive of new restaurant owners, and even old ones were often under scrutiny. Perhaps he should have tried for a safer business, like... he didn’t know, growing flowers or something.

Still, he wished that people didn’t jump to conclusions about him so quickly. Yes, he was a dragon zoner. But that didn’t mean that he was going to hurt anyone. And he had been attacked for no reason. He still held something of a grudge about that. He wasn’t sure if he could forgive the zoners involved, regardless of their possible regret or anything. They had attacked him unarmed when he had done nothing wrong. If it hadn’t been for...

He shook the thoughts out of his head. He looked around at the city, noting just how quiet it was. There weren’t many zoners on the street, despite it having been different a few days ago. It almost felt like a wasteland to him in a sense. A ghost town.

Should it really surprise him? No. Haney was fully aware that, since Sandra’s devastating attack, the zoners have been extra careful. He hardly saw any out as a result. Most of them hid inside their homes now, only going out when they absolutely needed to.

And it was all because of Sandra.

Haney shut his eyes tightly and he gritted his teeth. He recalled how the insane dragon zoner had ripped all of those zoners apart. He recalled the blood splatters and the screams. He could feel his gut twisting and he had nearly vomited more than once as he tried to get away. Even when the victim was one who had attacked him before, he still found himself sympathizing with them when their heads were blown off or whatever gruesome stuff Sandra decided to do to them.

He let out a sigh. Well, at least they could trust that Rudy, Penny, Mint, and Snap were on the case. Even if none of them knew exactly how they were going to stop Sandra, they had been able to do it before. So they could surely do it again. They just had to have some faith in them. Sandra was not going to get away with her atrocities for long. She...

Suddenly, he froze when he noticed something...quite strange going on. He stared outwards, and he could see that there was some...darkening going on. The buildings were gradually turning a much lower shade than they had been before. It wasn’t all at once; it looked as if the color change was crawling forward, steadily getting closer.

Now that was strange. He had never seen something like this happen before. Not that it surprised the chinese dragon too much. Considering the unpredictable nature of ChalkZone, he just figured that some kid had drawn a storm cloud or something. He adjusted himself a little, preparing to head inside if that were the case.

Shifting his gaze up, he couldn’t really spot any clouds, though. Hmm, that was quite strange. He wondered if they were invisible clouds. Quite silly, but it might be possible that...

Without warning, something pierced through the silence.

“Rawr!”

Haney nearly stumbled into the ground upon hearing this. He could practically feel the ground beneath him quake. It was a miracle that he kept himself from falling. Lifting his head up, he stared at where the sound had come from and his eyes immediately widened at what he saw.

There was a gigantic, purple-blue dragon coming right towards them.

sss

“Let me go this instant, you stupid green creature!” Shouted the enraged lizard. She slammed her fist against the raptor’s jaws in an attempt to make her release her. “I’m fucking serious! If you don’t...”

There was no surprise when Ripclaw did exactly what she asked of her. With a single fling to the side, Ripclaw sent the zoner flying through the air. Dr. Crobat watched with widened eyes as she crashed into the ground several feet away. There was surprisingly no crack, but he knew that was just out of luck and not a conscious decision.

Officer Polych grabbed onto her leg, pulling it towards her. She hissed as she moved her hand along her wounds. She shot a vicious glare over towards them, as if it was somehow their fault that she was like this.

“If you didn’t try to stop us, you wouldn’t have gotten bit!” Called out Taima. It wasn’t like they really wanted to keep doing this; Taima and Dr. Crobat were both shocked when Ripclaw attacked. But...it really did seem to be the only thing that was slowing Officer Polych down. “Now why don’t you avoid getting yourself more hurt and...”

“Oh shut up! Do you think that this is going slow me down?!” Officer Polych got back up to her feet. She gave a somewhat insane smile, lightly chuckling. “This..This is nothing! Urgh...” She moved forward a little as she temporarily lost her footing. She shut her eyes for a moment, hissing through clenched teeth. Then she seemed to quickly recover and she glared back at them. “I am...fine! I can still..”

Dr. Crobat shook his head as she watched her keep trying to come over at them. He still didn’t get why she wouldn’t stop. She was pretty badly hurt. Ripclaw wasn’t exactly gentle with her. He could see several bloody wounds from where her leg had been shredded. It was amazing that she could even still walk on it. And probably pretty foolish for her to do so.

But she was stubborn, he could tell. She was filled with adrenaline and determination and she wanted to get him back for whatever he had done. Dr. Crobat didn’t know for certain if he was truly involved or not. But Officer Polych’s judgment was still impaired. Not only was she working for a madman with a scheme that could cause, no, would cause a lot more harm than good, but she was also trying to still attack them even though they had a much bigger issue on hand.

Well, not like she could do much else anyway. There was no way that she could keep running at this point. And besides, they did have another way of getting out of here. He often forgot that Ripclaw had wings now, thanks to Rudy. Not like the lizard zoner would be able to stop them if they were to take off into the air, right?

“D-Don’t you dare try to leave, you motherfucker...” Officer Polych bared her sharp fangs at him. “I can see it in your eyes. You want to leave me behind. If you do... I’ll hunt you down!” She raised her hand up, flashing her sharp claws at him. “I will make sure that your throat is ripped out! You hear me, you stupid bird?!”

Dr. Crobat simply stared at her with a somewhat blank expression. He was almost not going to waste his time replying. But...why not? He still had some left to say one thing to her.

“You are nothing but a fool, Officer Polych. And your friend, if you could call them that, would be utterly ashamed.”

Officer Polych widened her eyes at this. She took in several breaths as she tried to control herself. Each breath got growlier and growlier to the point where she released a loud, open-mouthed hiss at him. She dropped down on all fours, a little wobbly due to her damaged, bloodied leg. Her long whip-like tail moved about from side to side, looking ready to strike.

“I am going to make you eat those words! You...demonic fucker!”

Officer Polych didn’t waste any time. She charged towards the group as quickly as she could. Her feet pounded the ground as she ran, her sharp claws acting as traction, making her move faster. Taima shouted something at her, but regardless of what he said, that didn’t stop Officer Polych.

Dr. Crobat narrowed his eyes at this. He could hear Ripclaw growling lowly, her body tensing up. He knew what was about to happen. And the only thing he could do was close his eyes for a moment, waiting for it to happen. The only thing that he thought before there was a gruesome slicing sound was.... at least they had tried to stop her.

“Aaargh!” Officer Polych screamed before she thudded into the ground.

Dr. Crobat reopened his eyes and he stared down at the form that was Officer Polych. He noticed the deep gash and the blood that leaked everywhere. A part of him did feel horrible for this. But on the other hand, she was the one who had been threatening them. Self defense and all that jazz.

Turning his head away, he patted the side of Ripclaw’s body and whispered softly to her. “Okay...let’s get going.” Ripclaw tilted her head up a little at him, trying to angle her eyes to see him. “Let’s hunt down the source of that sound.”

Ripclaw didn’t need to be told again. She hardly gave another glance to Officer Polych’s trembling form as she turned and walked away, heading over to where the sound had come from. The large green utahraptor hunched her body lower, spreading her wings outward. Then, powering up the muscles in her legs, she jumped up. With a few powerful flaps, she managed to stay aloft.

Dr. Crobat and Taima held onto her more tightly at this point, not wanting to fall off. Then, without hesitation, they headed off towards the desert.


	45. The Apocalyptic Beast

The show has just begun!  
-Ultranumb, Blue Stahli

sss

“What?! You can’t be serious!”

“How can you be so sure?”

“It makes sense. Think about it!”

“That’s just...horrible!”

“I know, but it’s the only thing that...”

“There has to be something else!”

“...I’m sorry.”

Rudy couldn’t keep his horrified gaze off of Penny. He moved his eyes up and down as he watched her, his teeth gritted against one another. He could feel his heart pounding against his chest and he breathed in and out quickly. He struggled to keep himself under control, but no matter what he did, he just...couldn’t make sense of this.

What Penny suggested had happened... It was too awful. Too horrible to describe in words. He didn’t want to... He didn’t want to think that it could be true. He took in several deep breaths, struggling to keep himself under control. He gripped his chest with his hand, ignoring the pain he caused himself as he panted heavily. His heart felt as if it was going to leap out of his chest at any given moment.

He wasn’t the only one who was having a hard time dealing with this. He could see Mint in the corner of his eyes, shivering from the news. He bit his lip, wishing that he could comfort him in some way. Seeing him like this was just... He shut his eyes, trying to fight off the painful twist that he was experiencing. Excruciating when combined with the fact that he was already being bombarded with painful, negative emotions.

Mint finally stopped gripping his head so tightly and he looked over at Penny. He had a look that was..something of grim acceptance and yet not. He licked his lips slowly, taking in a few deep breaths. He moved himself forward, looking rather forced and stiffed. He reached over towards Penny with his hand. He stopped himself, curling his fingers downward a little, pulling his hand back. He licked his lips once, smacking them as he struggled to find the words to say. And when he did, he spoke in a soft, low voice, “...are you absolutely sure that...” His voice trailed off, unable to speak any further.

Penny frowned lightly, nodding her head a couple of times. I do not like it much myself. But I fear that there’s nothing else that it could be. It all matches too perfectly to be anything else.” She closed her eyes, turning her face towards the ground. “Sandra got large....because she absorbed the other zoners.”

Even though Penny had already said this earlier, Rudy could still feel his heart skip several beats. He shook his head slowly, not wanting to believe what Penny was insinuating. He wanted to believe that there was something else that could have happened that better explained what had gone on. But....oh gawd, there really wasn’t anything, was there?

Penny was right. This would explain how those zoners could have all disappeared so quickly. It would have explained why that happened at the same time that Sandra grew in size. It would explain why she kept Skrawl around even though she had no use for him as a partner. It would explain it all...

“So Snap is inside of her...” Rudy whispered softly, finally coming to terms with what Penny was trying to tell him. He licked his lips slowly, the words coming out of his mouth tasting rather foreign and strange. “Oh gawd... Sandra just...consumed them...”

“Depending on how the fusion happened.” Mint raised a finger up. “I’ve played a number of games, and if there’s one thing I know is that, often, these fusions are only temporary.”

Rudy turned to glare at him. “This isn’t a video game, you know.”

Mint clenched his teeth at this. “Yes, I know.” He raised his hands up in gesture. “But who is to say that Sandra can keep this form for long? Maybe she could shrink back down and we could get the other zoners out of her somehow.”

“Maybe...” Rudy shook his head slowly. He wasn’t entirely sure if he believe that or not. “But either way, we still need to figure out how to deal with her. I thought we could just create some weapons or something and stop her that way. Or even traps, whatever we need. But...” He lowered his head and closed his eyes. “If Snap really is inside of her, I’m not sure if I would feel comfortable with...”

Rudy stopped when he felt someone gripping his shoulders. He opened his eyes as he felt that grip tighten. He looked up and he could see Mint glaring down at him. Not harshly, but out of genuine concern. Rudy found it difficult to turn his head away from those eyes, which seemed to stare directly into his soul.

“I understand your dilemma, Rudy. Do you think I feel good about this?” Mint motioned to himself, placing a hand to his chest. “Snap is my friend, too. Even after what he did, regardless if it was his own accord or not, I don’t want to actually hurt him. But..” He paused for a moment, taking in a deep breath and exhaling slowly. “It might be the only way we can help him.”

“But what if we hurt him?” Rudy gritted his teeth at the thought. “I don’t want to...”

“That’s a risk that we’ll just have to take, Rudy.” Penny chimed in as she moved in closer. Rudy stared over at her, his eyes widening slightly. “I don’t like it, either. None of us do. But if it means saving Snap from this fate then...” She moved a few fingers through her own hair. “I suppose we just don’t have much of a choice.”

Rudy stared back at his friends, feeling his heart clench. No, there had to be another way. He didn’t want to have to resort to fighting. Not when he knew that Snap was inside of Sandra. If he attacked her, he would be attacking Snap as well. He didn’t want to do that to his best friend. Please, there had to be some other way that...

But what if there truly wasn’t? What if this really was the only way? What if they had no choice but to fight their best friend? Even if not directly, they would likely still be hurting him in some way if they fought Sandra. He might feel every ounce of pain that she feels. And that would only make him feel worse about any sort of action that they took against her. He wasn’t entirely sure if he could go through with it or not.

But if it really was the only way to save Snap, then...

Rudy lowered his head, closing his eyes for a few moments. He nodded his head slowly, silently agreeing with what his friends were saying. They really didn’t have much of a choice at this point. To save Snap and the rest of ChalkZone, they really would have to...

“Where do we begin?”

sss

It all happened so fast. None of them had much time to react. The few zoners who had dared remain outside of the buildings when the creature had come were faced with a daunting task: getting inside before the creature would strike.

But, unfortunately, it was clear that not all of them were going to make it. A handful were still too far away from a building to get in. Well from a distance, it didn’t look that bad, but considering how fast this thing was coming, even just a few feet was just too much. All these unlucky folks could do was look up before they were suddenly engulfed in white flames.

Haney watched from a distance, his eyes wide in utter horror. He couldn’t get the horrendous images out of his mind. Even when he shut his eyes and looked away, he could still hear their screams. And in the back of his mind, he could still see their simmering bodies, lighting up and burning into nothing but ashes.

When he finally forced himself to look over at where the blue-purple dragon was now located, he couldn’t stop his jaw from dropping. That burst of white fire had knocked over a few buildings, set several on fire, and smoke was filling the city rapidly. And this was just from one burst of fire. What would happen if the creature kept it up? What would happen if it were to keep firing more attacks at them?

It would seem that he’d get his answer quickly. The dragon zoner did not look like it was going to stop any time soon. It was already wriggling its way around in one direction, its long tail whipping about, knocking against buildings, both damaged and undamaged. Tall structures toppled over, forming makeshift, unsteady arches. Some rubbed against each other noisily and there were bits of dust and small pebbles that fell to the ground below.

Haney struggled to control his breathing. He breathed in and out deeply, trying to force himself to slow down, to try to control himself so he could figure out how to respond in this situation.

But just like many others, he had become frozen to the spot. The sudden appearance of a huge, towering dragon attacking the city was just too much for his mind to handle in that moment. The only thing that he could do was stare in horror, feeling his blood temperature drop at an astonishing rate.

“Aaaahh!”

Haney shook his head at the cry of a child zoner out in the distance. He stared off in that direction, still frozen where he stood. He struggled to think of just what he should do. Whe he heard the child scream again, however, this time in more distress, he acted as quickly as he could.

The long, chinese dragon moved swiftly across the ground. His agility enabled him to dodge the falling debris as he reluctantly yet determinedly moved closer to where the purple-blue dragon was attacking. He turned around a corner and froze when there was a massive burst of flame that nearly struck him in the face. He waited for it to die down before he moved his lanky body over. He grabbed onto the edge of the wall and peered over.

He widened his eyes when he saw there was a small child zoner sitting in the middle of the street. A stick figure one at that. Haney could not tell from appearance nor looks if this was a boy or girl. But what he did know was that they were in trouble.

The child rested in the center of a crescent shaped rock, dented right into the ground. It looked as if it had come from one of the nearby buildings. The child had their back pressed up against it and was cowering in fear. It didn’t look as if the huge dragon noticed them, but it wasn’t that far away and it wouldn’t take long before...

Though it was risky, Haney couldn’t let the child be burned or crushed to death. He was the only one who could do it, too. No other zoner was nearby and any that were, they were already dead. Narrowing his eyes in determination, his teeth gritted and a hiss escaping them, he moved over swiftly. His body practically glided through the air with how fast he moved.

Once he got to the child, he didn’t bother waiting to calm them down. Even if the child was looking up at him with uncertainty, there was little time to act. He reached over with his clawed paws and he grabbed onto the shivering child zoner.

But just as he lifted them up, he was greeted with a huge shadow that casted over his whole body. He could feel himself freeze in place as he looked up and stared at where the shadow originated from. He could feel himself swallow hard when a set of yellow eyes glowed in his direction.

(I see I was not the only dragon zoner in this place. That is..some news to hear.) The dragon spoke.

Haney gritted his teeth as he heard the voice booming in his head. He hissed as he pressed the child against himself and slowly back away. “Who are you...?”

The large dragon tilted its head in one direction. (You really don’t recognize me? I would have thought that I was very...popular in these parts.) It raised a front limb up into the air, wriggling its large, pointy toes. (This doesn’t look familiar to you at all..?)

Haney looked at the limb for a moment before glaring back at the dragon. “Quit fooling around and just tell me who you are!”

The massive dragon blinked a few times at this before chuckling. It began to move forward a little more, its body moving in such a way that it reminded him of a snake. There was a lot of activity in the tail, wriggling and whipping about like a snake trying to escape a trap.

(Well I suppose I can be straight forward with you. Not like it will matter in the end.) The dragon pulled its lips back into a snarling smile, causing the child to whimper and huddle closer to to Haney. (I am Sandra.)

Haney froze at that statement, feeling a wave of ice shooting through his veins. He felt his body hunching out of fear and he cringed back away from the dragon. He took another look at those legs and realized that....yes, didn’t Sandra have arms that looked like that? And that voice that rang through his head each time that it spoke, it did sound kind of like Sandra, based on recordings he remembered hearing.

Although he was lucky enough to never have encountered her before, that didn’t make him feel any more comfortable around her. Staring up at her in utter fear, he gulped nervously and he moved away even more. He kept his arms wrapped firmly around the child, keeping them close to him. He did not think he stood any sort of chance against Sandra, but at least he might be able to buy the child some chance of getting away.

“What are you doing here?” A stupid question, he knew. But maybe he could distract Sandra long enough to give the child some sort of head start or something. “What is the point in all of this?!”

(Well I am certain you should already know that. Especially if you knew of me beforehand.) Sandra turned her head and gave him a downwards, sideways glance. (But of course, you really should have known not just from what the other zoners have said, but from what was inside of you the whole time.)

“What are you...” Haney said softly.

Sandra gave a quick, booming chuckle. (Oh don’t be so modest! I can tell just from looking at you... Shouldn’t you know by looking at me?) Upon not getting a response from Haney, Sandra sneered viciously and began to move around him slowly, arching her long, thick neck as she regarded him as if he was just a little gnat to her. (Isn’t that such a shame? I would have thought that a family member would recognize one of their own.)

A sharp sting tightened inside of Haney’s chest. “F-Family member...?”

The blue-purple dragon twisted her mouth upwards into a hideous smile. (Hello, dear half-brother...)

Haney took a step back at this, his eyes bulging wide open, to the point where he was surprised that they didn’t fall out of his sockets. He stared up at the beast, unable to move his gaze away from her. Those last few words echoed in his mind, swirling around like some kind of fluid had gotten inside his head. He tried to find the words to say, but he just couldn’t spit it out.

Step brother...? She was joking, right? She had to be joking.. Please say that she was joking... There was no way that... He shook his head from right to left slowly. He moved back even more. His grip on the child had loosened up. He could feel the child getting out of his arms and running off. But he hardly paid attention to that. He could only continue to stare at the massive form that claimed to be Sandra.

It took Haney what felt like several minutes before he could get himself to speak anything. A wave of emotion struck him, and he reminded himself of who this was. Narrowing his eyes slightly, trying to make himself look brave, he said, “I have no sibling... My creator never made me one.”

Sandra stretched her mouth back into a twisted smile. (Oh I did not mean that he intendedly drew you to be my sibling. But in the context of having the same creator...I’d say, yes we are siblings.) Sandra moved around him and eventually blocked his path out with her large form. Haney gritted his teeth. At least the kid got away before this. (Of course, we’re only half siblings, as I had two creators...)

Haney let out a yelp of surprise when Sandra put her face close to him. He moved back as far away as he could. He grunted when he felt something wrap around his body. He looked down and saw that it was the tip of Sandra’s tail. The sharp tail blades were so close to him, almost embracing them. He cringed away from them the best that he could. He looked up at her, still trying to put a brave face on. But with her this close to him, he wasn’t sure just how long he could keep this up.

(And I know you only have one....am I right?) Sandra glared at him closely. She appeared to be scrunitizing him with her eyes. She smiled a little, giving a small chuckle. (Yes, you have my other creator’s scent on you, in a way. You and I truly are related.)

Haney shook his head. “I have nothing to do with...” He stopped speaking as he was suddenly squeezed tightly. He was lifted into the air by Sandra’s tail. His tail wriggled about as he tried to free himself to no avail.

(Why don’t you join me, half-brother? I’d like your opinion on what I’ve been doing. I’d like some tips!) Sandra spread her large, feathered wings out. (I think you would be the perfect one to help me!)

“No!” Hany managed to say. “I would... urgh... I’d never help you!”

Sandra got a twinkle in her eyes. (Are you...so sure about that...?) She chuckled as she lowered her head and stared at Haney very closey with that one eye of hers. (I think I know what will..convince you...)

Haney gulped at this.

sss

“Whoa...” Penny spoke in awe.

“This place is just...” Rudy’s voice trailed off.

Mint didn’t say a word. He just kept staring out at the area that they were in presently, his mouth remaining wide open. A shockwave of emotion struck him in the chest and he had some trouble fully discerning the emotions that he was feeling. He licked his lips slowly, his eyes taking in as much detail as possible.

Traveling through this place hadn’t been easy. It appeared to be mostly a cave structure. There were no signs or anything to tell them which way to go. No stairs either; they had to use slants or make shift things to head up higher, which was a pain for Rudy for obvious reasons. There were some rooms, like the one they found Rudy in, that looked more like this was a building. But for the most part, it just looked like a natural cave.

And it was made so much more difficult to travel through in the dark. All of those red lights? They were completely gone. Mint recalled Sandra’s red underside and wondered if that had something to do with it. Had she absorbed the red light from them and... But for what? Mint had a feeling that they might never find out the answer to that.

He was glad that they had finally gotten out of that place. He was feeling increasingly uncomfortable moving around in there. They hardly seen all that much to it compared to Skrawl’s hideout, yet he had never felt as unnerved about the cactus place as he did here. The whole place just seemed to just..have this unusual aura to it. It was almost as if the place was haunted somehow, and they were moving through a place filled with dark and twisted energy. A part of him was almost surprised that they were even able to make it out alive at all.

So when they had come across the pathway that seemed to lead up towards light, he recalled just how ecsastic he was. He tried not to jump for joy or cheer or anything. But he had increased his walking speed noticeably as they headed up. The sooner he was out of there, the better.

But when they actually got out, all three of them had to freeze. They hadn’t expected to come across something like this. They weren’t entirely sure what to make of it. Not that it could hurt them, but there was just something about it that...

Mint forced himself to walk forward. He looked left and right as he took a gander around the area they had come out on.

They were indeed outside. The sky was quite clear to see. Darkness was all around, though, with a moon hanging overhead. He was not sure if this place had always been like this or if it had been recently turned into a Night Zone by someone on the other side.

But it wasn’t the fact that they were outside that had them stunned. It was what they were inside. All around them, they could see sharp, rocky formations all around. Long, fang-like structures went all around them. Left and right, they looked and they could see even more. The sight of it made them all feel uneasy. It seriously looked like they were in the mouth of some kind of giant beast. The fact that these structures occurred along the ceiling did not help matters.

Mint positioned himself at the very edge, staring right at one of these large, fang structures. He licked his lips nervously before he made himself reach out and touch it. He gave a quick shudder when he made contact with it. He could feel a cold shudder rush through his body. He kept himself frozen for several moments. Then he took in a deep breath and he looked over.

“What do you see?” Rudy called out to him from behind.

Mint didn’t answer him right away. He just kept looking around, left and right. At first, he couln’t really see too much. Just desert, like before. “There really isn’t any...” He suddenly froze when he noticed something quite familiar in the distance. He squinted his eyes just to make sure, uncertain if he was seeing things or not. Once he realized what it was, his eyes bulged open. “Oh my gawd...”

“What? Mint, what is it?” Penny asked as she moved over quickly to join him. She stood next to him and gripped onto the sharp-looking formations, taking a look around herself. “What do you see?”

Rudy came in close behind. His wheelchair squealed a few times as he forced it to go over a few small rocks. He could not get there quite as fast as Penny did. But when he did arrive, if he were going to ask a question, that was completely sucked from him when he let out a loud gasp. It seemed that he had noticed what Mint did.

“Penny..isn’t that...” Rudy spoke as he stared out into the distance. “It is... It’s that jail we were at before!”

Penny stared down at where the others were looking. She held up a head over her head so that she could get a better look. “Where? I...” She stopped, blinking her eyes several times, when she seemed to finally take notice. “Oh my... It is!”

There, out in the distance, was indeed that jail they were at before. It was pretty far away. It looked like a small speck from here. But it was still close enough that, if the people in the jail had actually looked out and stared over here, they should see the structure.

Mint had no idea why they didn’t see this place before. With how tall and large this thing was, he would have figured they’d spot it while they were at the jail a little while back. Well they were a bit busy with other things at the time and they had little idea of where Skrawl and Sandra had disappeared to. Heck they didn’t even know Skrawl had been working with Sandra for certain at this point. So should he be surprised that they didn’t think to look here?

“It is strange...” Penny spoke up. Mint and Rudy stared over at her, slowly blinking their eyes a few times. Penny tapped her chin thoughtfully. “This place isn’t really all that disguised. And it seems like an obvious hiding spot. Maybe Skrawl and Sandra had come here and... but why didn’t they try coming here?”

Rudy frowned at this. “I hadn’t really thought about that. I mean...they did say they looked, didn’t they? But why not over here?”

“Maybe they did?” Mint held his hands up at his sides. “Who is to say they didn’t?”

“If they did, wouldn’t they have reported this place? Even if Sandra and Skrawl were not found here, there’s still other things in this place that, if her words were correct, were already here to start with.” Penny frowned deeply, gritting her teeth. “Yet there was no report far as I can recall. But..why would Bell not say anything about this...?”

Mint rolled his eyes. “Because he’s a jerk, that’s why.”

“Even so... it is still his responsibility to report such a thing.” Rudy pointed out. “Ever since the Sandra incident, the public had been wanted to be more in the know about stuff like this. They would expect Bell to speak up and Bell would have to concede.” Rudy paused for a moment. “As much of a jerk Bell was, I don’t think he’s ever actually hidden anything before, so...” He rubbed his chin slowly. “Why would he start now?”

“Maybe to protect his precious reputation?” Mint commented, his voice laced in sarcasm. “I’m sure that’s very important to him. He’d want the public to believe he always has things under control. So why the heck not lie to the public and pretend that this thing did not exist?”

“Possibly. I mean, the whole thing does seem rather strange...” Penny confessed.

“We still don’t really know why he’d do it, even if this was the case.” Rudy reminded them all. “Not that I fully disagree. But before we start assuming, we should get the facts.” Rudy looked back out at the jail. “But even before that, we have something else first we need to take care of. Bell can come later.”

As much as Mint would have liked to see if their ideas were correct, as much as he would like to get even with Bell in some shape or form for how he treated Rudy, he knew that his friend was correct. They could not just assume all of this; they would need to find evidence. They would need to find some form of proof that Bell had any foul intentions. He could not even say he was surprised with the possibility; he had never liked Bell that much and he always did seem a little shady to him on some level, even if he tried not to believe it before.

But like Rudy also said, they had something else that they needed to focus on right now. They needed to head to wherever Sandra went off to. They needed to stop her as soon as possible. If they didn’t... He shuddered to think of what could happen.

Just where did that dragon go anyway? Looking all around, he could not see anything that looked like Sandra. She must have been flying really fast or they had taken longer to get out than he thought. There was no way that a large dragon like that could be so easily missed. Looking around, he would think that it would be difficult not to see a massive, blue-purple dragon moving about. Surely if he kept on looking, he would eventually see something. But so far, just...nothing.

It didn’t help that the jail was large and obscuring some of the view of the city they knew was beyond it. If they were positioned at a different angle, maybe they would have an easier time seeing if something was going on. But at this rate, they would actually have to draw something and fly out to see.

And even then...would it be safe? He recalled how Sandra had spewed out a wall of white fire at them. He shuddered as he recalled how difficult that had been to get away from. He didn’t want to think of what could happen if Sandra caught them in the air. She would not be so merciful that time, he was certain.

The white fire admittingly creeped him out. It reminded him too much of the white flame fireworks. The same one that nearly killed Snap and destroyed those other zoners. For Sandra to actually be breathing a power similar to that...

Just then, at that thought, suddenly, something struck him in the head. He straightened himself out as he felt flashes rushing through his mind. He struggled to control his breathing, but he couldn’t stop himself from repeatedly taking in and letting out breath an increasingly fast pace. He could feel his body give a few trembles as a cold chill fell upon him. He couldn’t even tell that Rudy and Penny were staring at him at all until he forced himself to look at them.

“Mint...” Rudy whispered as he reached his hand over. “What is wrong?”

Mint looked at him, then Penny, and then looked away. He rubbed his hands nervously together, his bulging eyes staring into nothingness. “I-I think I know where Sandra might be headed...”

Rudy and Penny gasped at this. “Where?”

“Isn’t it obvious? I mean...we should have thought of this before, I mean...” Mint spread his hands out and made a few quick gestures with them. His eyes grew wider each second, feeling his pupils shrink into dots. “We all know how she is with ‘promise breakers’, and she’s not exactly on good terms with the people of ChalkZone City, and she did attack them that one time and...” He paused as he slowly looked at his friends, locking his eyes with them.

And they got the message immediately.

“Oh my gawd...” Penny brought her hands to her mouth swiftly, her eyes bulging wide open. “...she’s....she’s going to the city to...”

Mint’s rapid eye movements tried to track anything regarding Sandra there. But it was no use; at this angle, he couldn’t see too much. He guessed Sandra had not attacked this particular area; she had moved in much further. Whether or not this was to deter them from thinking to come here was not certain. But regardless, they still had to act fast.

He gripped his head as he could feel the screams of the zoners echoing inside of his head over and over again. He gritted his teeth tightly as he struggled to cope with it, his eyes squinting so much that he felt they were going to burst open from the pressure somehow. He could see that gorey mess in his mind, and no matter what he did, it would not go away. Over and over again, he could see zoners perishing in his mind, all because of Sandra’s demonic powers.

He forced himself to reopen his eyes and he glared out at where the jail was. He narrowed his eyes into slits, feeling a bout of anger as he recalled how this whole thing could have been avoided if Bell had just...

His thoughts stopped and he froze when something suddenly caught his eye. There was movement off in the distance. He turned his head in one direction, squinting his eyes as he struggled to see what it was. The movement seemed kinda small to be Sandra, but.....what else could it be? He lifted a hand up and he put it over his eyes, trying to get a better look. What was...

His eyes widened when he started to recognize the shape coming overe. He could feel his heart clench slightly, feeling a wave of some kind of emotion strike through him. Was it possible that he was seeing correctly? Or was he just so hopeful that he was simply seeing things?

No, it was real. As the shape got closer and more discernable, he knew it couldn’t be anything else but...

“Look guys!” Mint cried out as he pointed in that direction. Rudy and Penny stared at him in surprise, their bodies jolting slightly from how loud and excitable his voice sounded. “It’s Ripclaw!”

sss

Haney struggled the best he could, trying to wriggle his way out of the tail coiling around his body. He could feel the purple tail squeeze against him tighter, causing him to gag. He grabbed onto the tail and raked it with his claws. But still no dice. Sandra was just refusing to let him go.

He wasn’t sure how long he had been stuck up here. Not that it really mattered. The length had no impact on how he was feeling right now. He could feel himself being moved up and down rapidly, and he felt his stomach start to lurch. He wanted to rub it so badly but there was just nothing that he could do. He was unable to stop that foul taste from entering the back of his throat.

Down below, he could see the streets and buildings zip by as Sandra continued to carry him over like this. With each flap, they moved over more and more buildings, and they quickly became nothing but a blur. On occasion, he would see an unlucky zoner still outside on the street, and only about handful of those got away before Sandra spewed more white flames upon the city.

Haney could feel his body shivering and his blood going cold as he watched this horrific scene play out. He gritted his teeth and forced himself to look away. But much of the time, it was just...impossible to do so. Despite the gruesome nature of what was happening, it was hard to make his eyes tear away. It was almost like an addiction and he could feel his gut twisting at that realization.

Even in spite of how many of these zoners treated him, that didn’t mean that he wanted something like this to happen to them. They didn’t deserve this. They didn’t deserve to be attacked like this. This was sick and wrong, what Sandra was doing. Each time he heard a zoner scream and go up in flames, he could feel his heart twisting even further. He wished there was a way that he could help them....but he kind of had his own problems at the moment.

He twisted and jerked his body from side to side, trying to do whatever he could to free himself. He straightened himself up as he tried to wriggle his way forward, his teeth clenching even tighter to the point where he thought they’d break. He tried to yank out one of his limbs, trying to angle his paws so that he could get a better strike at Sandra. The large dragon just tightened her grip on him.

(Isn’t this such a lovely day, dear half-brother?) Sandra called out to him. Though her head was pretty far from him at this point, her voice sounded like it was right next to him. (I mean..listen to all those beautiful screams. That makes for such a perfect day, right?)

“You’re a monster!” Shouted Haney. A weak response, but he wanted to say at least something to the fiend. “What you’re doing is wrong!”

(Oh is it? I hadn’t really noticed.) Sandra shrugged her shoulders, creating a bit of wind gust to hit against him. (I suppose people betraying me and locking me away for five years in isolation is perfectly fine?)

“You’re the one who was eating people!” Haney was struggling to control himself, but at this point, it seemed like it’d be impossible to do so. He could feel his blood temperature rising up rapidly and no matter what he did, he couldn’t seem to put that internal flame out.

Sandra didn’t answer him right away. She appeared to be thinking of some kind of response. She continued moving forward through the city before she turned herself around. She began to head in a new direction, as though she was trying to make sure that she stayed within the confines of the city. Which he honestly wouldn’t really doubt.

Haney was unnerved by the silence. He could not see Sandra’s face, so he had no reading just what she was thinking. He didn’t know if he had upset her or not. Though even with seeing her face, he’d still have some trouble. Sandra had much of it hidden behind that horned helmet of hers, which covered the top of her head and upper jaw. He wondered if Sandra did it like this on purpose, so that people would be scared if they had some difficulty in reading her expression.

(You know...that does remind me of something.) Sandra spoke up, breaking the silence. (That sounds very much like something someone else had told me.) Haney peered over at her. Not that he could see anything besides more of her body. But he still attempted to try to see her face. He listened to her as she continued to speak. (Yes, I do believe Snap had said the same thing before.)

Upon hearing his name, Haney could feel his eyes widen. He recalled that he had no idea what had happened to that zoner. He wondered if he was doing okay. Had Sandra done something to him? Had Snap escaped or did Sandra...?

Haney soon realized there was a different tone to his voice. It was...kind of hard to describe. He wasn’t really sure if words could be put to it. There was something clearly off about Sandra’s voice, and he could not pinpoint exactly what that was. He could feel himself huddle in against himself at this realization, clenching his teeth tightly. He wasn’t sure what to think about this.

Then he could feel the tail around him flex and he was suddenly yanked forward. He could feel a shadow covering him up and he could see a bit of crimson. He knew right away that Sandra had pulled him along the underside of her body. This theory proved right when he coul see Sandra bending her neck down and looking straight at him, a dark smile spreading across her face, or at least, what he could see of it.

(I know how you must feel about me eating other zoners. I am sure you are one of those who thinks that it’s such a horrible thing. You are just like all the rest. Refusing to see things from my perspective.) Haney growled at this. Sandra merely chortled. (If only you would try to look at things from a new prespective. Things end up making a lot more sense. Come on now, half brother. Surely you would give me a chance. We are related, after all.)

Haney just spat in her direction. Not that it did him much good; the saliva bit just fell towards the ground. But it was still worth it to show her some defiance. “Fuck off!”

Sandra shook her massive head from side to side. (I see you are going to be stubborn as a mule. Oh of course you are. Like so many others... You don’t even try to see things from my point of view. Isn’t that quite unfair?) Sandra suddenly flipped herself around, somehow able to fly upside down. The motion caused Haney to let out a cry of fear. He stared down at her, gritting his teeth. (You all get angry at me for not trying to see things your way, yet you don’t do the same for me...)

Haney squirmed in her tail. “That’s because you...” He stopped speaking when Sandra suddenly squeezed him hard, cutting off his air supply.

(Oh I know what you are going to say, and I think I will help you spare yourself the trouble by telling you...forget about it.) Sandra hissed at him. Though her voice was only in his head, he could almost hear her teeth clatter against each other, the hissing of air coming from the space between them. It was a rather uncomfortable sension and he couldn’t help but shudder. (You are just like the rest of those promise breakers, I see. I would have thought that you would have more sense than that.)

Should he even believe a word that the fiend was saying? How was he certain that she even meant anything by it? There was little reason to believe that she felt anything strongly for him. She was just trying to play mind tricks with him, put him at unease. That’s exactly the sort of shit that this zoner would pull.

Perhaps they weren’t even half brothers as well, as she put it. If she was truly just trying to mess with him, she might have just come up with that as a way to screw with his mind and put him on edge or something. Sandra enjoyed playing with her victims, it seemed. And of course she would go as far as... Haney struggled to push the thought aside so that he could concentrate on what was going on

Which wasn’t easy. It was so hard for him to concentrate while he was being held up into the air like this, positioned not so far away from the massive, flying dragon before him. It wouldn’t take much for Sandra to kill him. This realization caused him to freeze in horror and he scanned his eyes around her carefully, looking for any signs of her getting ready to chomp him. A single gulp was all that it was going to take and...

(It is still quite a shame that you won’t even give it a try. What do I need to convince people to try to see things my way? Of course, I’m sure I sound like a broken record. How many times have I said that? A lot I’m sure.) Sandra stretched her head down a little, her yellow eyes peering down below. (I am just depressed, you know? All I ever wanted was for someone to understand me...)

Haney could feel his blood heating up again at this. He was no stranger to this kind of stunt that Sandra enjoyed pulling. Always playing the victim card. She was such a hypocrite. Even if it weren’t for the fact that she ate zoners, this aspect of her would not have been well recieved by many of the zoners here. He would ask himself why Sandra would continue acting this way, even though it’s clearly not going to work, but then he reminded himself that, well because this was Sandra he was thinking of.

Though nervous, he turned his head and looked down at the ground below him. It was quite unnerving to see the destroyed buildings down below him, or the sight of zoners running about, looking for a place to hide. His heart skipped a beat when he saw another child, this one trapped in some kind of wedge in the poles. He couldn’t see the child’s parents anywhere and he wondered if they had been crushed to death, or if the kid had no parents at all.

To his horror, Sandra appeared to take notice to the child. She lifted her head up and she smirked in his direction. He could see a glint in her eyes and a thousand hidden promises. Though she didn’t say anything, Haney could already tell what was on her mind.

“W-Wait...” Haney tried to say.

But it was too late. Already Sandra twisted her body around and she dove straight towards the child. She moved quite fast and Haney had to shut his eyes as he felt the wind flap against him. Sandra plummeted down at such incredible speed and he thought that he was going to have his skin ripped off or something.

Then they came to a sudden stop. Haney let out a grunt as he found himself being flipped to one side and then brought back down. The movement was so fast, he thought that he was going to throw up. He lowered his head and let out a small groan as he felt his mind spin around a little. He shook his head, trying to straighten it out a little, and then looked around to see where he was.

Sandra was positioned standing upwards, her front legs off the ground. Her wings were spread out, the full span able to cover much of the road that they were on. She was already huge before, but somehow, she became utterly massive this way. Her form towered over the trapped child zoner, casting them in near utter blackness.

Haney stared down at the frightened child, licking his lips nervously. He could feel his heart pounding inside of his head. He could feel thoughts racing through his mind and he struggled to sift through them. He tried to think of something, anything, to save this child, but he just... He knew there was nothing that he could do. As painful as it was, all he could do was look away and wait for Sandra to ‘take care’ of the child.

But when nothing happened, he felt a wave of confusion strike him. Not that he wanted her to attack or anything, but...just what was taking so long? Why was she delaying herself? Cautiously, he opened up his eyes and peered at the dragon looming over him.

Sandra was indeed staring at the child, looking as if she was going to attack at any moment. But yet..at the same time, it almost looked as if she were a little more on the relaxed side. Like...something else was on her mind and she was practically daring him to try to figure out just what that was.

He could feel his breaths coming in and out quickly, and he had to force himself to stop. Once he was able to, he licked his scaly lips nervously, staring up at the purple dragon that seemed to be ignoring him entirely. Yet those eyes looked as if they could see everything. Not just the quivering of the child, but his own uncertain and nervous looks. And this was seemingly supported when she opened her mouth partway and let out a small hiss.

Haney was about to try struggling again when he felt something begin to move. He realized that Sandra was leaning herself forward, allowing her body to fall down. His eyes widened when he realized what this might do to the child. He struggled frantically, calling out to her, “No! Wait! Stop!”

Sandra did not listen. Within seconds, she hit against the ground, the floor beneath them shaking and a crack spreading throughout the road that she had struck. Haney let out a yelp when he felt some of the vibrations rush through him in a rather violent manner. Even after this was over, he still refused to open his eyes, terrified of what he might see.

“Wh-Who are you...” Came a small, squeaky voice.

Haney could feel a wave of emotion strike through him at this. Forcing himself to look, he saw that Sandra, despite having caused more damage to this area, hadn’t actually harmed the child. If anything, she had actually loosened the area that the child had been trapped in. The child was now free and was backing away from the massive dragon. Haney’s relief that the child was free was short-lived.

“Stay away from them!” Haney started to wriggle harder against the tail that held him. “I’m warning you! If you dare touch them...!”

Sandra chuckled, her whole body shaking. (Oh I am trembling in my feet.) She spoke, her voice laced in sarcasm. (Like, what do you think you can do to me, oh dear half brother of mine...?)

Haney narrowed his eyes at this, his teeth clenching tightly against one another. He seethed heavily, struggling to keep himself from getting too upset. But the temperature of his blood, it wouldn’t stop rising. He could practically feel his face begin to burn. He was shocked that he was not getting seered from this.

(I can do whatever I want to this dear, sweet little child...) Sandra moved her leg forward and blocked the child from being able to get away. The child screamed and pleaded to be let go. Sandra just sneered at them. (And why? Because I am the beast. The one of your nightmares. The one who is in control. If you all see me as a monster, then a monster, I shall become.)

Haney trembled at this. He could feel the interior of his mouth starting to heat up. He struggled to control himself, but it was difficult to stop the bouts of smoke and tiny flames from coming out. Sandra let out a growly chortle at this, as though it was the funniest thing ever.

(Is something troubling you, Haney? I do wonder what will happen if I applied pressure here...)

The child let out a terrified scream as Sandra placed her paw against their body and pushed them down. “Help! Somebody! Help me!” Sandra ignored the child’s screams as she continued to apply steady pressure.

Haney widened his eyes in horror at this. “What are you doing? Let them go! They didn’t do anything!”

Sandra raised her head up, tilting it to the side. (And I deserve to be locked away for years? I’m as innocent as this child here. Do I not deserve to be...)

“Just let them go!” Screeched Haney. He panted heavily, his mind spinning so much he thought he was going to pass out at any moment. “Just...please...” He looked up at Sandra pleadingly. “You can have me...but please let them go.”

(Hmm...) Sandra looked as though she was going to actually think about his offer. But instead, she merely furrowed her eyes in confusion and curiosity. (You think that your little offer is all that it would take? Honestly, I didn’t come to this place for you. Not like you have much to offer me that I did not already get.) Sandra tightened her tail further against him, her tail coiling even more so around him. At this point, Haney found it difficult to even breathe. (Maybe it is time that you all got a taste of it is like to having life be unfair to you.) She sneered down at the child, moving her head in closer. (Because all it would take is someone come along and....)

Through his pain and slightly blurred vision, Haney could see Sandra raised up her massive paw, poised to strike at the child. He squirmed harder at this, his mind constantly nagging at him to get free. He needed to get out of here before Sandra could....

(...take some...liberties...!)

Haney could hear a loud swooshing sound. He could see the massive paw coming down towards the ground. He could feel his eyelids widening to the point where he thought his eyes were going to roll out. He wriggled himself from side to side, his teeth clenched in fear and horror. He couldn’t even think of saying anything; all he could do was scream at the child, hoping that they would get out of the way in time.

But...they didn’t.

Haney knew he would never get the horrific image out of his head. He could hear the crushes of bone and the splattering of guts everywhere. He could see the ground, once clean, now stained with blood. He slowly moved his eyes around, scanning the land, trying to keep himself from hyperventilating.

Then Sandra twisted her foot around, and lifted it up from the ground. He could see slimy-looking blood start to drip down from her feet. The sight of it caused him to gasp and wretch. He tried to keep his stomach from emptying its contents everywhere. But the task became increasingly difficult, and soon he spewed out his last meal over Sandra’s foot. Not that she seemed to care judging from her expression.

(What’s wrong? Can’t handle something as simple as a little bit of blood?) Cooed Sandra. She lifted her foot once more and brought it over. Haney nearly vomited again from the smell of blood being so close to him now. (It’s just blood. It’s not going to hurt you. Here...)

Haney stiffened up when he felt Sandra carefully brush her paw against his head. He could feel the still warm blood start to cling to his body. Even when Sandra moved her paw away, he could still feel the blood on his face.

(Oh cheer up. It’s not that bad. I think you look rather nice.) Sandra peered towards the ground. (And I think this child would make a wonderful decoration..don’t you think?)

Haney wasn’t sure just what got into Sandra’s head. He knew that she was crazy. He knew that she had gone off the deep end lately. But...he had no idea...that it was this bad. He had no idea that she had gone so far as to... Oh gawd...

He could feel emotions swirling inside of his head. He could feel his body tremble harder. He could feel the pit of his stomach setting itself on fire, surging through his body like he were some kind of engine or something. He could feel aburst of energy rushing through him, and he could feel bursts of heat exiting his mouth, with more smoke pillowing out. He glared intently at this hideous, evil dragon, who seemed to merely shrug her shoulders at what was clearly a serious situation.

He was not able to stop the surge of emotions from rushing through him. He was not able to stop the full on rage to enter his mind, wanting to tear this dragon apart. He clenched his sharp teeth tightly, breathing in in a growling manner in and out. He continued staring at Sandra, looking at those yellow eyes. Those arrogant yellow eyes which reflected the aura of a complete and utter monster.

How dare she dismiss the child like some kind of ornament... How dare she act like this was all justified... How dare she act like he shouldn’t be angry with her...

What happened next, he had no way of controlling or stopping. Even though he realized at the last second that he shouldn’t do it, it was just too late by that point to stop. He could feel his jaws opening up, the heat in his mouth getting stronger. He could feel the flames pouring out of his mouth, dripping almost like acid rain. Then, with a burst of energy that he didn’t know that he had, he shot a fireball out at her.

Sandra widened her eyes at this. But she was not quick enough to stop it. The flames hit against her head, and she immediately let out a scream. Haney grunted as he was dropped into the ground. He hissed, rubbing his head, and then he peered over, watching with widened eyes as the massive dragon wriggled about on the ground in agony, her mouth open and screeching, her large had over her eye. He could see streams of blood coming down from it.

Haney was so stunned by this, that he did not take this chance to try tor un. He could only stand there, watching in utter horror as the massive dragon struggled to control the pain that she was feeling. Sandra’s screams of pain echoed throughout the buildings and much of the city and her thrashing body crushed the nearby structures. The crushed child’s body was now even more disfigured at this point. By the time that Haney even thought of trying to force himself to run, he was too late.

Sandra was already loooking at him, her teeth clenched tightly. He could see the emotions practically swirling around in his head, and he knew that there was no way that she was going to show any mercy on him at this point.

The massive blue-purple dragon began to make her way over to him. Each step was slow and deliberate. She didn’t even try to speak to him. Her mind was clearly too filled with rage to even think of talking. That remaining yellow eye of hers pierced through his soul, as if it had become a large knife and she wanted to rip out his own spirit. Which, giving her current state, he wouldn’t be surprised if she did.

Haney backed away as quickly as he could. He looked over his shoulder and then back at Sandra once more. He quickened his pace a little, wincing and feeling his heart skip a beat each time a foot fall rumbled through the ground. After a while, feeling adrenaline burning his mind and cold chills nearly ripping apart his heart and blood vessels, he turned himself around and he did the only thing that he knew could do.

Run.

sss

“Hey look! Isn’t that Rudy and Penny down there? And Mint?” Dr. Crobat called out as he put his wing hand over his eyes to get a better look. He squinted, trying to get a better idea of what he was seeing. “I...I think it is!”

“Are you sure?” Taima looked all around, trying to figure out where Dr. Crobat was looking at. “I don’t see anything.” Ripclaw let out a loud growl at this and a snort. “I think she agrees with me.”

Dr. Crobat shook his head. “No, that’s her telling you that I’m right and to get your butt moving.” The bird zoner grabbed onto the sides of the dinosaur zoner and pulled forward, attempting to usher Ripclaw to move faster. “Dive down there, Ripclaw!”

“W-Wait!”

It was too late for that. With a loud screech, Ripclaw had already begun to dive down to where that mountain cave formation was. Dr. Crobat narrowed his eyes in determination as he guided Ripclaw over in that general direction. He kept a good, tight grip on her so that he wouldn’t fall down. He could feel Taima wrapping his arms around his body, attempting to keep a hold himself.

Dr. Crobat was not one hundred percent sure if he was seeing Rudy, Penny, and Mint or not. But from this distance, it certainly seemed like it would be them. Three forms, he could clearly see, and all of them looked humanoid. And one did look incredibly short, as though they were sitting down in a wheelchair.

Just like Rudy.

Yes, this had to be them. He wasn’t sure how or why they were here. But it was nice to see some friendly faces here. Maybe they would be able to tell him and Taima about what had happened. Maybe they could inform them of Sandra’s whereabouts. And then they could work together to try to figure out just what they could do next. Pressing his foot against her flank, he urged Ripclaw to move faster.

A part of him was a little worried, though. He did try to kill Penny and Mint while under Bell’s influence. He bit his lip at the memory. He wondered if they would understand that it wasn’t his fault. That he had never intended to hurt them? That he was being controlled, forced to do things against his will?

Perhaps they would understand. They were always understanding folk and they were fully aware of the Signal’s influence. They knew him from five years ago and how he was an ally then. Perhaps they would take into consideration that he would never do something like this willingly.

Though even if they did understand, he’d still feel awful about the whole thing. He carried with him a great weight of guilt upon his shoulders. He hadn’t been forced to just attack Penny and Mint, but also Dr. Gelcro. At least he knew that Penny and Mint made it out okay. But he never did learn of Dr. Gelcro’s whereabouts. He licked his lips nervously, wondering just what would have happened to him.

Well, the only way to find out for certain was to confront them. He needed to get down there and talk to them. If they are nervous around him, then so be it. It wasn’t like he could blame them. They had every right to be nervous around him.

Well, here goes nothing...

With how fast Ripclaw was diving, it would surely not take a long time before she would get to their destination. Sure enough, it didn’t seem like it took too long before they were so close to the toothy mouth of that eerie-looking cave. Already, he could definitely tell that it really was Rudy, Penny, and Mint that he had spotted before from way up higher. He narrowed his eyes as he continued to usher Ripclaw forward.

Within moments, Ripclaw moved in through the sharp, pointed structures. He flinched and Taima let out a yelp when Ripclaw accidentally struck against the structures a few times. The three human children all let out screams of surprise and moved out of the way when some of the sharp ‘teeth’ ended up falling down, narrowly missing them as they struck into the rocky floor near them.

Ripclaw managed to stay aloft even in spite of that. She flapped her wings heard and manuevered the best as she could, trying to ensure that she did not hit anything else. She managed to turn herself around gracefully, even in spite of the limited space in here. She reached out with her long, muscular legs, and she landed without much issue. She flapped her wings a bit more and she soon settled them against her body as her feet found their home against the ground.

The initial encounter was....just as he had suspected it would be. Silent and uncertain. He looked over at where Rudy and his two friends were, noting their expressions. He flinched when he saw how Penny and Mint looked at him. They weren’t...angry or anything. But it was clear that they were not entirely sure what to think about him. He could not blame them for their caution.

Rudy did not look exactly the same. He might have known what happened, but he was never attacked by him. So the fear was not as strong as it was in Penny and Ment. Yet this did not mean that he wasn’t being cautious; Dr. Crobat could see right in his eyes that he, too, was not entirely sure if he could be trusted or not.

Then there was the case of Taima.

Dr. Crobat was well aware of what Taima had done five years ago. He recalled that his release from prison was met with a lot of backlash and skepticism. Some would have preferred he stayed locked up.

While he can’t say for sure that these human children felt the same way, they weren’t exactly on good terms with Taima. Surely it was at least better than before, and Taima tries his best with them, or with anyone really. But memories die hard, and Taima’s actions against Snap were quite horrendeous. Even if they all ended up on the same side of this, he couldn’t imagine these three trusting Taima too easily.

“D-Dr. Crobat..” Mint was the first one to speak. He swallowed hard, his breathing becoming a little ragged. “...wh-what are you doing here? How did you escape...?”

Dr. Crobat let out a small sigh. “...Biclops let me out.”

Penny took in a sharp breath. “But he was supposed to keep you in....! H-How could he have...”

“I convinced him.” Dr. Crobat cut him off. “I wanted to do....something to make things right and...” He raised his wing hand up upon seeing their expressions. “Yes, I...I know what I did and I’m... I don’t even know if I could say that I’m sorry. I...” He lowered his head down, peering against the floor beneath his feet. “I feel so ashamed...”

“Yeah, yeah.. Now isn’t the time to remain dwelling on that.” Taima jumped off the back of Ripclaw. “We need to take action!” He looked over at where the human children were. Somehow able to ignore his own nervousness, he called out to them, “Do you know which why Sandra had gone?”

Dr. Crobat didn’t hear any response from them. The three teenagers were still pretty silent, staring at them warily. At least none of them were bringing out their magic chalk. A good sign; they must not feel threatened enough to do something like that. He hoped that they would be able to keep this up; he really didn’t want to be on the receiving end of a terrified human creator.

“I know we’re all kind of nervous with each other. But now isn’t the time for that.” Dr. Crobat paused for a moment as he watched Ripclaw return to Mint’s side. She put her snout against the teenager, nuzzling him affectionately. He wondered if she was attempting to comfort him. Turning his attention back to the three creators as a whole, he continued. “But can we just skip all that and just get on with what is important?”

Taima joined him, nodding his head in agreement. “I know it’s kind of rushed and everything. But...” He held his hands up at his sides. “We kind of have a situation on our hands, don’t you think?”

Slowly, shakenly, Rudy nodded his head. “Y-Yeah...I can agree to that...” He licked his lips slowly. “I...” His voice trailed off and he narrowed his eyes, struggling to figure out just what to say. Eventually, he said, “Yeah, catching Sandra is a lot more important right now...”

“Though we still have questions we want to ask you.” Mint spoke, his eyes narrowing slightly. “There are some things that we feel that we should know.”

Dr. Crobat nodded his head. “I understand.”

“But we will put it off or later.” Came Penny’s nervous yet gentle voice. “You don’t have to worry about it for now. Let’s just focus on stopping Sandra.”

“Indeed..” Taima said as he nodded his head.

Dr. Crobat was glad that things were running pretty smoothly so far. There was still a little bit of tension, but at least everyone involved agreed that Sandra was top priority pretty quickly. Now they should be able to focus on finding and stopping her before she did further damage or achieve in...whatever it is she had been trying to accomplish.

But though they were all now focused on what needed to be done, they still had to, well, figure out what they were going to need to do. Exactly how were they going to pull this off? Then he realized...he hadn’t even asked about Sandra yet. Nor did he know just what these teenagers had gone through.

So that’s how they would start off. It would be best if they caught up first. There were a number of things that he needed to tell them and he was certain they also have some things to inform him about as well. Then, once they knew where each other was at, they could then focus on trying to solve their current situation.

He decided he would be the first one to speak. He took a few steps towards them. He did stop and feel a pang of guilt when the teens cringed away from him a little. He ripped his wings together nervously, hunching his body. He was a little grateful when Ripclaw made a few small sounds of approval and nudged her head against Mint’s side. But it would take more than simple encouragement to make him or the others to feel safe around him.

Dr. Crobat shrugged off his uncertain feelings, focusing on what needed to be done. He cleared his throat the best that he could. Then he straightened himself out and he stared at the teenagers, giving them a serious expression. He paused for a few moments, and then he finally began to speak.

“There is something that I need to tell you three...” And with that, Dr. Crobat began to recount his encounter with Bell.

sss

Oh no... Oh gawd no... What did he do? Why did he have to do something so...so stupid? Oh geezus, if only head controlled himself more, maybe this wouldn’t be happening.

Haney barely had time to react and jump when Sandra spewed out another bout of white fire in his direction. The flames struck the ground behind him and he could hear the loud crackling as the flames spread along the ground a little before they started to die off. He could practically feel the heat from over here and he could certainly smell it.

Haney ran as fast as he could, trying to keep himself in front of Sandra. It had been somewhat manageable to keep away from her, but at this point, it had become a rather daunting task. For it wasn’t just Sandra that he had to keep dodging, but the general city all around him.

Sandra had been attacking not just him, but the land all around them. He could feel constant heat from the white flames as Sandra kept attacking the buildings all around them. He could smell more and more smoke, burning through whatever it could. He could even smell, to his horror, a few zoners burning alive in the flames that currently engulfed them. He flinched as he listened to them, and he struggled ot keep moving as quickly as he could.

Up ahead, he saw one of the larger buildings of this place. He stared at it intently, his mouth open with his tongue hanging out. Should he try to head in there? Not like it was going to slow Sandra doown much. But...maybe he coud at least buy himself a little bit of time, perhaps? He looked over his shoulder, noting just how close Sandra was to him. Yes, a little bit of time would work out just fine.

Pushing himself to move as quickly as he could, he began to head over in that direction. He pumped his legs as hard as he could, pounding them against the ground. His heavy breathing filled the air, and he could feel his throat rapidly become dry. He managed to ignore the uncomfortable sensation as he headed straight for the open front doors of the building.

Within moments, he managed to get inside the building itself. He could hear Sandra slam against the building as she struck against it. Despite his hopes that it would keep her at bay, the massive dragon had already torn through the wall. Haney could hear creaking as the rest of the building began to give way. With his heart pounding in his chest, he raced through the building as quickly as he could, heading out the other side. He kept running several feet before he stopped and he looked around, panting heavily.

The building was in shambles. A part of it still stood up a little, but other than that, most of it had fallen to the ground. The sight of it was horrific, especially when he began to imagine what zoners may have been inside. He knew that there were a few casualties; he could see the blood stains on the debris from where the building had fallen and crushed them.

Unfortunately, this wall of debris did not only signify the death of more innocent zoners, but it also did not stop Sandra for long. The massive dragon pulled her head back and swung at the debris, using her horned helmet to knock away the rubble so that she could continue at him without having to use her wings. The sight of this caused Haney to start backing away once more. He looked left and right in desperation, and soon settled on running towards another building.

But he was met with the same exact result with this one as well. Just like before, Sandra was able to destroy it with ease, as though the building were made of some kind of flimsy material. He knew that it wasn’t that weak, but Sandra was so big and heavy now. And even if the building were sturdy, she could still use her flames to usher him out. The only way this tactic was going to work was if she was somehow distracted.

And that was not likely to happen. Not with how focused she was to get him.

With no choice, the only thing that he could do was keep running. He couldn’t even remember if he could fly, let alone attempt. Not in this situation. His mind was too panicky, too flushed with rapidly moving thoughts, to even think of trying to do something like that. The only thing on his mind was just...keep on running.

And that’s what he did. He did his best to keep in front of her. He dodged her attacks to the best of his ability. He tried to ignore the loud roars that she unleashed, and the screams from the other zoners that followed. He just needed to keep moving, and so long as he did this, he stood a chance of escaping. He just had to keep this up. He...

But it was apparent that the other zoners were not going to be so lucky. He could hear how loudly they screamed. He could hear them pleading for Sandra to leave them be. He was refusing to look, but that did not protect him from the agonizing screams that the zoners were unleashing all around him.

When he was finally able to take a rest, when he had temporarily lost Sandra, he took that moment to look around him. He could feel his heart clench tightly as he saw all the destruction that Sandra had caused to this place.

A large portion of the city had been destroyed at this point. Even though he didn’t see too many dead bodies, with all the buildings that were crushed or toppled or burned, or even a combination of two or all three, he knew that there was a massive body count. Sandra had already killed a large portion of citizens, and now she had destroyed even more lives. The sight of it was enough to pump him with a mixture of fear, horror, and rage. Yet, despite the temptation, he had to keep telling himself he needed to get away.

But he had waited too late. He had been so distracted by the destruction around him, and by the screaming and whimpering of injured zoners, that he had not noticed that Sandra had snaked around the building he was hiding behind. Before he had time to react, the massive dragon’s shadow was upon him, and he only had a few moments to look up before she acted.

Haney let out a loud cry of pain as the large foot struck against him. He could feel it slamming him against the wall with great force. He struggled and he squirmed, but there was nothing he could do to escape her grasp. The massive foot had him pinned down firmly, and soon her eyes locked onto this, making it hard for him to move.

He thrashed around for a bit, going as far as trying to bite her to get free. A few more fireballs also escaped his mouth, even though they did him absolutely no good this time. Sandra hardly paid attention to them as she bared her sharp teeth at him, her tail swishing behind her from side to side. He eventually stopped trying and he just laid there, limp and terrified, those hideous eyes preventing him from moving so easily.

The fact that Sandra was not speaking somehow made this situation a lot more terrifying. It just added to the atmosphere, making it feel thicker and heavier. He couldn’t help but gulp nervously as he looked up at the evil dragon, wondering what she was going to do next.

He got his answer quickly.

Haney couldn’t help but let out a scream of terror when Sandra opened up her jaws and the interior of her mouth began to glow. He could see a steady white glowing, growing rapidly more and more intense. And he knew exactly what was going to come. He trashed about, letting out screeches, bit her hand, whatever she could.

But despite his efforts to free himself, he was not able dislodge himself before Sandra suddenly unleashed a barrage of white flames. Haney didn’t have much time left before his vision was filled with white.


	46. Not So Fast

I am! I will! So no longer will I lay down, play dead...!  
-Rose, A Perfect Circle

sss

Sandra felt a wave of satisfaction as she watched the flames begin to engulf her half brother. The sneer on her face spread far and wide and she could not help but release a chuckle. The flames were traveling up the zoner’s body and the white glow spread everywhere.

She had not been surprised when even Haney rejected her. All these zoners in this city had the same mindset. They were all monsters. All worthy of death in her eyes. They had no redeeming qualities.

Then again, neither did her.

Sandra would never admit it openly, but she would acknowledge to herself that she had gone too far. She told her half brother, though never anyone else, that she has become a monster now. She still did not think she was before this point, but as of now? Yes, she might as well be the monster now. Not like it would change anyone’s view of her anyway.

Well at least she would be able to put her dear sweet little half brother to some good use. She wouldn’t have to kill him like most of the zoners she had come across. He could be taken in with her, and she could use his excess energy to help her finish off the rest of ChalkZone City. She could do it without him, but every extra bit of power counted, right?

Was it going overboard? Perhaps. Maybe there would be another way to salvage this city. Maybe she could put them all through rehabilitation, like she did with Snap and will do so with Rudy Tabootie. Maybe some of them could be saved. The only way to find out was to at least try it. Maybe she got them to see things from her perspective...

No, it was too late for them. She told herself this over and over again. It was too late..and she couldn’t be bothered. There was nothing left for her here. Not as this city was anyway. She may try to rebuild it. Maybe search the world for zoners she felt were worthy of this place. She could help to create a new ChalkZone City. One that was actually fair and just. Not the promise breaker-riddled world that it had been right now.

And of course, Snap and Rudy, once she converted him, would be of great help. Snap could help her find zoners and convince them to come while Rudy could rebuild the place. He was a pretty good artist. He would be able to pull it off.

There would be a few changes of course. More emphasis on keeping promises. Warning to those who dare to break them. Perhaps even bodies strung up in the main street so that they would all know.

In addition to that, eating others would be permitted so long as they were loved ones. Friends and family alike. Convincing these disrespectful zoners that it’s all right to eat someone you care about was going to be a daunting task. Even more difficult than the promise thing. But she was confident that she could convince new zoners moving in, as well as Snap and Rudy, of this fact.

Then and only then would this place be truly home.

But before she could even begin, she needed to take care of one more thing. She looked down and she could see that Haney’s body was all white now, glowing and ready to be absorbed. She grinned at this. She moved a little closer, lowering her head and staring at him where his eyes should be.

(I guess this is it. Do not worry. I will make sure you are put to good use...)

Sandra did not expect a reply back. Not that he could anyway. She opened her jaws and she licked her lips slowly. Then she began to move in closer to the frozen form that was Haney.

Suddenly she froze as a loud sound screeched through the air.

“Rawr!”

Sandra lifted up her massive head and looked left and right, trying to find the source of that sound. She wished that she still had her healing powers; one of her eyes still was not working and she could feel the pain of it echoing through her body because of this. But that did not bother her as much as the lack of sight did. Using whatever she had left of her vision, she attempted to see where that sound was coming from.

She was almost immediately greeted by a flash of color and the presence of small claws trying to get at her eye. She immediately pulled her head upwards, and she could feel whatever it was flinging back, rolling along her spine and down her tail. Hissing loudly, Sandra seized the small thing in her tail, like she had held Haney before.

Pulling the tail closer and bending her body so that she could see, she felt a flicker in her eyes as she recognized this individual.

(Fancy seeing you here, Mosaic...) Sandra watched as the reptilian zoner squirmed in her grasp, attempting to bite her with her fangs. The sight of it was so amusing. (I wonder where you have been. Weren’t you supposed to be guarding Snap? Where did those duties go?)

Mosaic’s eyes widened at this. Then she started to hiss and growl at her once more.

Sandra tilted her head to one side. (I am pretty sure you had promised, even if silently, to protect him. Yet here you are... You weren’t there when I captured Snap. And now it’s too late to save him.) She moved her head in closer to the reptile zoner, a part of her wondering if she even recognized her at first. She grinned, releasing a small chortle. (Do you have any idea of what this means?)

Sandra did not expect a response from Mosaic. Not like this little thing could even speak. She might not even have a good grasp on intelligence. Just barely enough to understand some of what she was saying. But really, just how far did this truly extend?

She spent a few moments watching the little creature squirm. She did recall that she had another zoner to take care of first. But no... Mosaic needed to be dealt with. Intelligent or not, she had been an issue the last time. She would be damned if she allowed something like that to happen again. Besides, it would not take that long to get rid of her.

And she had another reason to deal with her first.

(You’re just a filthy promise breaker...) Sandra whipped her massive tail from side to side. She could hear the screeching of metal against the ground. She ignored this as she focused her attention on the squirming reptile zoner. (As such, you are in trial, and as your jury, I find you...)

Sandra opened her jaws wider.

(Guilty.)

Sandra began to close her jaws around the squealing, frightened zoner. She could feel her teeth touching against her body. She curled her lips upward, feeling a sense of relief to be finally rid of this little pest.

Suddenly, something hot and seering struck her against her already injured eye. Feeling the wounds reopen, blood flow starting anew, Sandra released Mosaic and pulled her head back as she roared loudly, the sound echoing off the nearby buildings. She swung her head around, a few tears of pain moving down her hardened face. She wiped her eye with her massive paw, trying to fight against the agony.

When she did manage to stop the pain, her good eye darted around for whoever had done this to her. Upon seeing Haney standing there, she seethed through her clenched teeth. She must have been ignoring him for too long; she had failed to realize that he had gotten free from her grasp. She could not see where Mosaic was at this point, but all she cared about in that moment was making Haney pay for what he dared to do again. Fuck fusing with him. If he would rather die than join her in something far more glorious, then...

...so be it.

Sandra released a loud roar as she moved towards him. She split her jaws open further and she slammed them shut, attempting to take Haney into her jaws. The zoner managed to dodge out of the way in time and she only ended up grabbing into broken bits of concrete. She hissed in disgust as she shook her head from side to side, spitting out the pieces of rock that got on her tongue. Then she turned her head, arching her neck sideways, and hissed loudly where she could see Haney.

The smaller dragon zoner was down on all fours, small bits of flame shooting out each time he exhaled. His eyes were narrowed into slits and he looked ready to release another fireball at her. His back was arched, his tail whipping about, as if he were trying to look menacing.

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. Then a bit of curiosity started to rise up inside of her. She had to wonder just how her other creator had dealt with this one. What other abilities had they given him? Did he really have what it takes to be someone related to her?

Well, she might as well find out. Perhaps it was time to see what he was truly made of. She licked her lips once more, anticipating the fight. In the end, it would not really take that long.

Without further hesitation, she sprung towards him.

sss

Penny was frozen solid. She could barely move, let alone try to speak. She was unaware of much that was going on around her. She was aware that they were on the move and aware she was with someone. But only just...barely.

Her head was filling up with rapidly moving thoughts. It almost felt as though every corner of her mind was just...exploding with thoughts. They kept coming in every which way and they refused to stop. No matter what she did or what she attempted, she could not get herself to stop. The only thing that she could do was just...allow the thoughts to manifest, even if it was clogging up her brain.

She found it so hard to believe... A part of her wondered if it was just some kind of nightmare or... Yes, that’s what it had to be. It was just a nightmare and soon she would wake up and...

Oh who was she kidding? She was only fooling herself in that case. This was reality and she had no choice but to face it. Even if the truth made her uncomfortable... There was really nothing else she could do, was there? Unable to really think of any way to ‘prove’ that this was a dream, knowing that she had to accept reality, she took in a deep breath and sighed.

Penny could still hear those words echoing in her mind. Over and over again, she heard them, and she could feel her body shivering in response to that. She clenched her teeth tightly, feeling a cold shiver running up and down her spine. Those hideous words... Not that she was upset at Dr. Crobat for telling them, but still... That was not the sort of news that they had been wanting to get.

It would seem that Bell was a much bigger traitor than any of them had thought.

It was he who had orchestrated the escape.

Perhaps he had never meant for Sandra to get out. Perhaps he had wanted her to stay. But Skrawl... That had been deliberate. He had wanted Skrawl to get out...so that he could be placed as leader. A number of things that happened...were because of Bell.

It was he who had ensured Sandra could escape temporarily. He had chosen the weakest-minded to be in charge of helping to feed Sandra, which in turn would make him jumpier and...

Penny had no idea how Bell would have made sure that Sandra stayed in her enclosure after that. But he was aware that the chaos erupting from Sandra would have enabled him to escape. When Sandra had taken him, Bell allowed it to happen, if only because of his plan. Perhaps he was working on the sidelines to get her arrested again, but he still deliberately ignored that towering cave thing so that Skrawl would not be recaptured.

Penny theorized that some of those tunnels were also made by Bell. Perhaps he had foreseen them trying to stop Skrawl and they were put there for... She wasn’t sure. So that the Beanie Boys coud sneak up on them, probably.

And then there was Dr. Crobat himself... Penny was aware that it was a test, but she also knew that Bell wouldn’t have cared if they were killed. He probably wanted that to happen, so that his sick, twisted view of the world would come into fruition. She gritted her teeth at the thought of it, and she could feel herself start to shiver as she recalled how close she and Mint had come to dying. Not just with the Beanie Boys, but Dr. Crobat as well.

And the Signal...

This is what enraged her the most. She was already furious that Bell had been decieving others and took a gamble with Sandra to release Skrawl, but to make matters worse, he had been experimenting with the Signal. He had recreated the device and was using it to his own ends.

That...asshole... Did he have no idea what he was dealing with? Did he even know how to work that thing? At least Sandra knew how to use it. But Bell... he might do something with the device that would... She shook her head as she tried to get the gruesome thoughts out of her mind.

As much as she was burning up at this, there was one thing that still confused her. One thing that she was trying to wrap her head around.

When Dr. Crobat had been running, he had mentioned Bell shouting at him about someone intialed as ‘S’. Something about how it had hard enough for him to arrange things with ‘S’ and that he wasn’t going to let him ruin it. It was quite strange... At first, she thought it was Skrawl, but...that made no sense, did it?

No, Skrawl couldn’t have been the one to arrange things. He was the one who was trapped and he was probably just as surprised he got out as anyone else. And it couldn’t have been Sandra. She made no mention of it and with how straightforward she was about much of the stuff she was doing, Penny would think that the dragon zoner would have said something. At least at some a point anyway.

So if it wasn’t either of them, and she knew for a fact that it was not Snap, then...

...who could it have been...?

Penny shook her head, trying to get the thought out of her mind. She tried to refocus her attention on the task at hand. In a few seconds, she became aware of her surroundings again, and she narrowed her eyes into slits as she looked at their target destination ahead.

“How much further is it?” Penny asked, not looking at anyone in particular.

“Not too long.” Mint answered back. “We should arrive in a few minutes.”

“And Sandra?” Penny inquired.

“She’s still there.” Called out Rudy, who was being held by Ripclaw’s foot talons. “I can see her form. Distant, but it hadn’t gotten any larger or smaller. I think she’s staying put.”

“Good. That means that we have a chance to catch up with her before she could do more damage.” Taima spoke, his voice having a little bit of a growl edge to it. He looked over and stared at Dr. Crobat. “What are we to do when we arrive?”

Dr. Crobat clenched his beak tightly. There was a bit of a haunting look in his eyes. Penny couldn’t help but stare at him sympathetically. He was likely remembering the big of grave news that they gave him. Telling Dr. Crobat that Dr. Gelcro had been killed was no easy task. The bird zoner did not respond as much as they thought, but that was only because, as they could tell just by looking into his eyes, that he was hurting on the inside.

Dr. Crobat spoke, his voice coming out as a shaky, airy breath. “We do what we said before. We go into formation, and do what we can to not allow her to see us.” He paused for a moment. “Or smell us.” He turned his head and stared at the others with a backwards glance. “That means we cannot be be upwind of her.”

“Wouldn’t that be difficult in an area with no wind?” Mint tilted his head to the side, raising an eyebrow.

Dr. Crobat turned his attention on him. “Most of the time, yes. But remember that this is ChalkZone. Some kid could draw something with wind at any given point. If that happens, we must be able to change our coordination so that she does not catch our scent.” He looked away, staring out ahead. “It is the only way we can be sure that we have the upperhand. Otherwise..” He closed his eyes. “We become sitting ducks.”

Penny nodded her head at this, remembering what her mother had taught her. “If we are upwind at any point...” She shuddered for a moment as she thought of the consequences of that. “...then let’s just say things wouldn’t end well.”

It wasn’t like she really needed to elaborate on that. They all had a very good idea of just what she was referring to. They were all aware of the consequences if they messed this up, so truly aware of what would happen if they ended up getting detected by Sandra too early. They had all seen what she had been doing from a distance. They did not need any of that ‘action’ placed against them.

Penny tried to push the horrible thoughts aside. Yet she could not. At least, not completely. She could still feel her mind being bombarded with memories of what had happened when they came over here. They had taken a detour in a new direction, hoping to come in from behind. But that didn’t happen soon enough and they were all ‘treated’ to the sight of Sandra tearing the city apart.

Even now, Penny could still hear the distant screams, and the sound of buildings crumbling. She could still see, in the back of her mind, images of Sandra using the white flames to burned own more buildings. Even though they had remained a good distance away, she could still see the white flames in all their horrible details...

She managed to settle herself down and focus as she and the others came in closer. At this point, they had been well aware that something was distracting Sandra. They were still not close enough to see what it was, but it didn’t matter. At least she was distracted, which gave them time to come in from behind, take her by surprise.

They soon landed on the ground. First, she could hear a clank as Rudy’s chalk wheelchair was set down. Then came Ripclaw’s taloned feet, and a small gust of wind as her wings beat hard and soon folded at her side. Penny and Mint jumped off her back and, following Dr. Crobat’s idea, they began to head out.

Penny could soon hear Ripclaw moving in a new direction, just as they had planned. Two groups. Both of three. Ripclaw was over with Taima and Dr. Crobat so that they had protection. And to deceive Sandra the best they could, as well. Ripclaw might not realize there’s more than one creator coming after her. Penny just hoped that they were able to remain hidden from her until they could make a move.

They headed their way through the city, being as quiet as they could. Rudy’s wheelchair made this difficult, but for what they had accomplished so far, this was going better than expected. Penny took care to make sure each step she made was light and gentle, and her two friends followed suit. Not that they could stop all their noises when they walked, but at least this way, they stood a better chance of not being noticed.

As they came closer, Penny realized that she was starting to recognize the loud roaring that was intermingling with Sandra’s. It had been quite a while since she had last heard it but..there was no doubt about it. This really was...

“Hey guys...” Penny whispered under her breath. She could feel her friends’ eyes upon her, waiting for her to answer their unspoken question. “I think I hear Mosaic...”

sss

It was a miracle that Haney was able to dodge the attack when he did. He had his foot caught in the ground, between a wedge, and it took him a little while to get himself loose. And even when he did, there was too little time to react. If it hadn’t been for Mosaic distracting Sandra, he would have gotten crushed.

Haney fall onto all fours and bared his sharp teeth as he glared up at Sandra, his tail whipping from side to side. Sandra was too busy focusing on Mosaic at the moment, but he knew that this wouldn’t last for long. If he didn’t act soon, then Mosaic was going to be in huge trouble. If Sandra attempted to use her white flame breath....

He took a moment and shuddered as he remembered what had taken place. He could feel a cold shiver move up and down his spine. He could still feel those flames upon his body. He could still feel the burn and the...whatever sensation that it was.

It was a weird thing to say. He was not entirely certain if he could describe it accurately or not. But he had felt something else when he was hit by the white fire. It was a tingly sensation, and a feeling of numbness as well. It had spread throughout his body, making him feel funny all over. And then he thought he could feel something start to...break apart was the only word that he could think of, yet he wasn’t sure if that was accurate or not. It was just...overall strange.

He was torn from his thoughts when he heard a loud screech above him. He splayed his digits out in shock, his eyes widening. “Mosaic!” He called out.

Mosaic had attempted to lunge at Sandra, only to be grabbed by her massive paw in midair. She was lifted above the ground and held up, several feet from the floor below. Mosaic screeched and squirmed and thrashed in Sandra’s claws, but nothing she did would make the zoner release her. Sandra merely glared at her, her teeth exposed and mouth spread in a twisted smirk.

(It is still amusing how you try to stop me. You know that you cannot win against me now. So why do you even bother putting up a fight?) Sandra tilted her head, staring Mosaic with a level of curiosity. (Shouldn’t you be fleeing for your life or something? It is a shame that you weren’t this devoted to helping Snap.) She poked at Mosaic a little, her claw tip stroking along the top of her head. Mosaic hissed and tried to bite at her to no avail. Sandra merely pulled her hand back and chuckled. (Yes...too bad you didn’t use this to help the one you had promised to protect...)

Mosaic let out a loud roar at this, saliva bits spitting everywhere. Though Mosaic could not speak, it was clear to Haney that this was a very ‘fuck you’ statement. And he could not disagree. Sandra needed to understand that promises cannot always be kept and that she could not blame the promise breaker if they were unable to fulfill the promise. What if they got hurt or something?

Not that any of this would get through to her anyway. It was like talking to a brick wall. There was really nothing that would convince Sandra that she was in the right. All she would do was just keep believing that she was doing the right thing, even if she had to become a monster to do so. Haney gritted his teeth at this. She was just...beyond talking at this point. They needed to figure out a way to stop her.

But...how?

He could not begin to think of just how they could manage to stop someone like this. How could they stop someone who had this kind of power? Even without her super healing powers, which he had guessed earlier she lost due to the fact that she didn’t try healing up her eye, she was still dangerous. A massive purple-blue dragon with strong fire that could, at the very least, severely injure anyone. At least, those she was actually trying to hurt; he wasn’t sure if thats what she was attempting with him.

He could hear another loud screech and he looked back up. He could see that Mosaic was attempting to dig her sharp claws into Sandra’s paw. He could see a little bit of blood starting to drip down. It was not much. Certainly not even close to being enough to create a puddle on the ground. But it was still enough to get Sandra’s attention.

The large dragon head lowered itself down, and the piercing yellow eye examined Mosaic up close and personal. She let out a loud, heavy hiss through her massive teeth. Mosaic did freeze at this and look up at her, only to continue clawing at her anyway.

Sandra raised her up again, a little higher than before. (Hmmm....you are such a feisty little fellow, aren’t you? Of course...still determined to make up for what you did, eh?) Sandra let out a small growl. (Kind of too late for that...) She began to bring Mosaic over, her grip on her tightening a little. (Don’t you think?!) With that, she threw Mosaic towards the ground.

“Mosaic!” Haney found himself shouting again. He watched in horror as Mosaic rolled and tumbled across the ground, eventually coming to a painful-looking stop a few feet away. He attempted to rush at her, only to be stopped by a massive tail. He jumped and took a few steps away before arching his body and glaring up at the large purple dragon, who was peering down at him with a silent, haughty expression. “Sandra...!”

(Yes, that is my name. You should know that by now, dear half brother...) Sandra spoke, sounding slightly amused. Haney merely snarled at this, a low growl eminating from between his clenched teeth. (I don’t see why you are so upset. I was just having a little fun.) She shrugged her massive shoulders, her wings stretching out in response. (You ChalkZone City zoners sure are...touchy.)

Haney was struggling so hard not to snap at her. It was taking all of his strength not to let himself do something so stupid and nuts. He did not want to make the situation worse than it already was. He and Mosaic were already in trouble already. But he knew that, if he wasn’t careful, things could get a lot uglier.

He knew that his best bet was to try to get away at this point. He didn’t think that he could handle much longer trying to find her off. At this point, she was just toying with them. He and Mosaic weren’t doing much of a dent to her. Outside of the damaged eye, they weren’t really having much of an affect, and it would only be a matter of time before Sandra decided to just go ‘fuck it all’ and use her flames upon them.

And once she does, there would be little way to get out of its path. They weren’t in a good area to try to run far. There was too much stuff in the way. Broken building parts were everywhere, blocking much of the paths around. Not that they couldn’t get away, but with how the landscape looked now, it would be a miracle if they could get away before Sandra spewed fire upon them or even crushed them to death.

In fact, the only way that he could see them getting out was if one of them was a distraction. At least that way, one of them could get away. But...would he even be willing to let something like that happen? He couldn’t ask Mosaic to sacrifice herself, but he also could not see himself doing the sacrificing.

...but what if there was really no choice in the matter? Mosaic was on better terms with the zoners of this city and the human creators as well. She was more well known and well liked and... He narrowed his eyes. He knew exactly what he was going to do.

He glared over at Sandra, watching as she had turned her attention back to Mosaic. She was moving in closer, one of her feet hanging up in the air while the other had just heavily thudded into the ground, kicking up some dirt and dust. She opened her jaws and let out a small hiss as she peered in closely at Mosaic. The reptilian zoner was backing up, letting out a hiss of her own, her sharp teeth exposed. Sandra raised up her paw and appeared to be ready to strike.

Haney acted as quickly as he could.

“Hey Sandra!” He called out as he jumped forward a little, trying to make himself more noticeable. This was enough to cause Sandra to turn her head slowly and give him a backwards glance. Haney paused for a moment, trying to think of a response. Then, licking his lips slowly, he shouted the first thing that came to his head. “You give promises a bad name!”

Sandra’s eyes flickered at this and she narrowed them deeply. She let out a low growl as she began to make her way towards him. (What...did you just say...?)

Haney took in a few shaky breaths, realizing that there was no going back at this point. A part of him wished that he could just back out, but..no. He could not. He struggled to keep himself from looking too fearful, preventing his face from contorting too much in the wrong way. He kept his teeth bared, doing whatever he could to look fierce. He refused to allow himself to look too afraid. Not while Sandra was here.

“You heard me.” He repeated, panting heavily, each breath glistening with growls. “ I know that promises can be important. But me, and everyone else, knows that sometimes they cannot be kept.” He watched as Sandra started to tremble in rage. This did not deter him, and he refused to stop. “I do agree that some greater care should be taken, and if the promise could be kept at all, then sure. But...” He took a step forward. “What of cases when the promise could not be kept, huh? What about if the ‘promise breaker’, as you call them, had been injured?”

(Then they should have been more careful.) Sandra sneered. (Then that wouldn’t have happened.)

Of course she would say something like that. Haney shook his head in response to this. “Typical that you would try to come up with something like that. Typical that you would try to still put blame on the ‘promise breaker’ involved. As if they could predict what will happen.” He pulled his head back in an S shape, baring his teeth in a mocking grin. “Of course, you have no problem keeping a promise, even if it meant hurting someone else. Shouldn’t a promise be helpful? How were you helping Snap when you went after him in spite of...”

(He needed to be taught a lesson!) Sandra opened her jaws, exposing her razor sharp teeth at him, her tail whipping about wildly behind her. (Don’t you dare question my...)

“Your what? Your authority? Your superiority?” Haney spread his paws out in a dismissive gesture. “You lost everyone’s respect here years ago when you wasted your time doing that. Instead of confronting Snap, you chose to do that. Tell me, what did you hope to gain from all of that? How could you expect Snap to remain friends after you ostracized him from society?”

Sandra shook even harder at this point. Her teeth flashed in a broad snarl. She moved in closer, her steps getting heavier and more deliberate. She was so focused upon him that she did not realize that Mosaic had slipped away. (Why you little...)

Haney smirked at her. “I’m a little what? All I did was speak the truth.” He tilted his head to the other side. “You are the one who chose that path. You didn’t have to hurt him and yet you did. Think about what you had put him through Sandra. Really think about it...” He narrowed his eyes into slits, recalling the details that he had been told regarding Snap and Sandra. “How could Snap be comfortable with someone who had went behind his back and caused him so much pain and suffering? How could he trust someone who would do something like that without telling him at least why? You never bothered to tell him why, did you?”

(I...) Sandra paused for a moment. Then she said, (He should have known I was doing it because of the promise that I made!)

“Yes, but you didn’t tell him beforehand, did you? How was he supposed to know that’s why you did it?” Haney turned himself to the side, arching his body in her direction. He seethed through his clenched teeth. “How was Snap to know that you had made such a promise? He is not a mind reader. If you really had to go through with that...” He paused for dramatic effect, walking a couple feet in her direction. He glared at her straight in the eyes. “...why didn’t you at least tell him earlier why you did it...”

(You just... I... You can’t tell me that..) For once, it seemed that Sandra did not have a good response to that.

Haney did not speak a word. He just watched as Sandra fought with herself. She swung her head around as she tried to figure out what to say or do. He could see how her facial expressions kept changing, contorting and twisting about. He could see how her one yellow eye was flashing a series of emotions. He had no idea if this all meant that she was realizing what she did or not, but at least it would keep her a little busy for a while.

He looked over at where he knew Mosaic had ran off in. He didn’t know if she was going to just keep running or if she was going to get help. Either way, she was out of here, leaving only him to face off with Sandra. At least one of them was going to survive this. For how long, he did not know. It was still something.

Haney watched as Sandra finally returned her attention upon him. He could still see how conflicted she appeared. She seethed through her massive, sharp teeth, a bit of white flame occasionally sparking at each breath. She looked like she wanted to say something, but could not. She looked too conflicted, too enraged. It was clear that she was not going to be able to speak words at this point.

Then, unable to handle the emotions swirling about inside of her, she opened up her jaws and she unleashed a bout of white flame in his direction.

Haney immediately jumped out of the way. He eyed the burned spot with a forced look of disinterest. He looked back up at her, giving her a sideways glance. “Is that your answer to everything, half sister? I would think our creator would have made you smarter than that...”

Sandra snapped her head back and snarled. Still no more words. She just charged at him like she had before. Haney did not waste anymore time on trying to speak to her. With her full attention on him, he turned and ran. This time, with the full intent on trying to get her out of the city.

sss

Bell shook his head, not wanting to believe that this could be true. He didn’t want to think that, after all this, his plans were starting to fall apart. He tried to control his breathing. He tried to keep himself composed and relaxed.

But how could he stay calm in a time like this?

He could still hear the groans of Officer Polych as she was hurried into the emergency van. She had shown up, horribly slashed up and bloodied, and now she was strapped down into a chair, secured and ready to go. Her appearance like that had stunned them all, and worried him deeply.

He knew why she was attacked. He knew that it was most likely Ripclaw, given the large claw marks, and he knew it was because she was trying to stop whatever Officer Polych was trying to do. He was fully aware of the fact that Officer Polych would have been the offender, with Ripclaw only defending.

But he could not let anyone know that. He couldn’t allow this information to be spread. If word got out that it was Ripclaw and an act of defense, people were going to start asking around. They were going to wonder just what Officer Polych was doing to incur the zoner’s wrath. It didn’t matter if he tried to explain or not. He knew that his reasoning would not be accepted by most in the city. He knew from day one that he was in over his head, and now he was placed in a situation where it could easily catch up to him.

And there was more. If things weren’t bad enough, he had recieved some news. When Officer Polych had arrived, blood staining the ground, she had told him about an ‘invisible roar’ that she heard. Something that was felt through the ground.

..and that was exactly what he had felt as well. Only a lot stronger. Even know, he could hear the loud, more audible roars ring throughout his head, and he couldn’t help but grit his teeth. He could feel questions surging through his mind and he started to wonder if he had really been doing the right thing after all, or if he had screwed up big time.

It was Sandra. She had returned. She was ripping through the city, tearing it apart. And he had not done anything to stop it. What was the point? Sandra would easily tear apart any of them that tried to stand in her way.

Oh if only he hadn’t been so stupid, this wouldn’t have happened... Why did he take the gamble about temporarily releasing her? Why did he set it up so that she would cause Skrawl to escape? Why did he allow his idealism get in the way? Why didn’t he allow himself to see just what the hell he was doing? He felt like kicking himself for being so easily manipulated. Why the hell did he ever listen to S...

He interrupted his own thoughts. He shook his head, clearing it, and then he tried to refocus his attention on what needed to be done. He narrowed his eyes into slits. He still had some determination to make Skrawl the leader, even if he was conflicted about his role with Sandra.

He knew what he had to do.

sss

Rudy struggled to get himself free from his friends’ grasps. He jerked himself from side to side, his wide eyes staring out ahead, his mind swirling about, trying to figure out just how to appropriately respond to this. He found it difficult to stop. He had to get going. He just had to. He couldn’t just...

“Rudy! You have to stay put!” Penny hissed under her breath.

“You’ll only get yourself into trouble!” Mint said, agreeing with Penny. “You need to stay here!”

Rudy glared up at his friends. Well so much for support from them. He thought that they would allow him to at least try. Nice to know that even they don’t think that he was capable. He gritted his teeth at them, growling. “You won’t even let me try!”

“You’re in a wheelchair!” Mint told him firmly, struggling to keep his voice low. “You could get hurt!”

“I’ll do just fine! I have the magic chalk! I can do it!” Rudy jerked himself to the side, trying to make Mint let go of him. “Release me this second, or I’m going to...”

“You’re going to what? Smack me? Is that what a friend would do?” Mint asked in an eerily calm voice. “I thought I knew you better than that.”

“I...”

Penny cut him off. “Rudy, we aren’t keeping you here because we think you’re incapable. But think about it, Rudy. Really think about it.” She motioned outwards. “I know that you want to help, but you can’t do so by charging out there. The ground is too jagged for your wheelchair. You’ll get stuck and then Sandra would be able to get you. And we...” She paused. She lowered her head, shutting her eyes softly. “We just don’t want to lose you...not again...”

Rudy froze at this, staring at Penny in shock. He could see that Mint was giving a similar expression, nodding his head a few times. Rudy could feel his gut twist in guilt when he fully realized just what they had said. He could feel his stomach sting as he lowered his head in shame. How could he have been so blind to this? He should have known that...

It was true. His wheelchair would be a hinderance in a landscape like that. He’d get caught too easily. And with Sandra’s massive form flopping about, her tail shipping all around....

He flinched when he could hear another screech from Haney as he was knocked into the ground. Rudy might not have been able to see it, but he could hear it just fine. And the thud that he made as he struck the floor was just.... He couldn’t help but shudder at it. It was truly awful. He would be amazed if no bones were broken.

“So please, just stay here.” Penny said, breaking him out of his thoughts. “Mint and I will get Haney out of here.”

Mint reached over and touched Rudy on the shoulder. “Just wait here. And if we have any trouble, you can draw something to help us out, okay?”

Rudy stared at Mint, thinking for a moment. He turned his head slightly so that he could see Haney struggling to get up, only to be stricken again by the enraged purple dragon. He sucked on his lip at this, pressing his teeth against the flesh. He wasn’t sure how much longer Haney could last like this. He had been able to run for a short time, only to be knocked into a corner by Sandra. He needed help and fast.

Turning his head back to his friends, he hesitated, then, slowly, he gave a nod. While he still wished he could be of better help, staying behind and drawing things to help his friends was still a good option to have. Plus, he was out of Sandra’s sight.

Sandra... He struggled to push aside the ice cold feeling that struck him upon remembering just what she had done to him. He could still feel her lips on his mouth and..

No, he could not think about that right now. He would have plenty of time to feel bad about that after Sandra was taken care of. Forcing the feeling out of his body, he moved his head up, his neck feeling a little tense and rigid. He looked into their eyes, noting their expressions. Then, as a bit of encouragement, he slowly smiled.

“Good luck.” Rudy said.

Mint and Penny looked at each other, and then smiled down at Rudy. They each gave a nod of their head, both confirming their agreement on this particular arrangement.

“We will be careful, don’t worry.” Mint said with a broad smile. “You take care, too. Don’t allow yourself to be attacked. Try to draw cover and...”

“Okay I think he gets it.” Penny frowned as she looked over at where Haney was being attacked. “Come on, Mint. We need to get going!”

“Right!” Mint replied.

Rudy watched in silence as his two friends raced out to help Haney. He rolled his wheelchair a little more forward, going over some of the rocks here, so he could get a better view. He used his magic chalk to draw a shield in front of him to offer some kind of invisibility. Through the small hole, he peered through and watched carefully, trying to see just what was happening.

He could see Penny and Mint racing over to where Sandra and Haney were. At this point, Haney was on the ground, panting heavily. He had several bleeding wounds and bruises on his body. His tail looked as if it was broken in at least two places. His body had one scorch mark on it. And one of his fingers was ripped off. It did not look as if he was going to be able to get up again.

Sandra was moving in closer, her heavy legs pounding against the ground with each step. She stared intently at the fallen form of Haney. Her massive mouth was open, her lips curled slightly upwards, smirking down at him. She had a small trail of white fire moving about from the corner of her mouth. She soon stopped herself several feet away, her tail twitching from side to side. Then she raised her paw up, about to strike. Her smile grew more sadistic as she did this. Then, moments later, she began to strike down. Rudy felt his heart skip a beat at this.

Sandra was not able to complete her attack. In that moment, Mint had gotten in front of Haney and drew a thick shield to deflect the attack. The startled dragon ended up slipping on this and nearly toppling over. She managed to right herself and she shook her head, letting out a loud hiss at this sudden newcomer.

Then she seemed to freeze in shock upon seeing that Penny had rushed out and was now by Haney’s side, holding onto him. Sandra blinked a few times, and then gritted her teeth. It was hard to tell just what was on her mind, but it was clear that it was nothing good.

Rudy wanted so much to rush out and help his friends. He wanted to just get out of this fucking wheelchair and challenge Sandra to a duel himself. But...he knew he couldn’t do that. He would only make the situation worse for them all. He had to, no matter how difficult it was, remain put and keep himself on standby. He reminded himself that he was the the backup plan. If something were to go wrong, it was his job to draw something to help out. His friends counted on him. He could not let them down.

So, keeping himself as still as possible in his chair, he leaned forward and watched the scene play out beore him. He watched as Mint and Penny took positions in front of Haney, blocking Sandra’s path to the injured and bleeding dragon.

Sandra opened her mouth and let out a loud hiss at this. Then, with her teeth bared, she moved in closer. Rudy gulped nervously and watched from behind the shield, hoping that his friends knew what they were doing.

sss

Mint struggled to keep himself calm as the large beast came towards them. He could feel his heart pounding in his chest as his teeth clenched tightly. He moved back only a small step, but he refused to leave Penny’s side or abandon Haney in his time of need.

He felt obligated to help him. In a way, they went through similar things. Though of course with him, he had actually done something to deserve it. He was not the nicest guy when he first arrived. Even to this day, he still felt shame and horror about what he did to ChalkZone. But at least he was trying to make up for it. Yet some zoners still treated him like he was the enemy, despite all of his help.

Haney was in a similar situation. But in his case, it was even more unfair. Haney had not done a damn thing to deserve what he got. But so many zoners seem to think that he was the enemy for some reason. So many were quick to turn on him when Skrawl had apparently escaped. And so many just wanted him to be locked up or killed, whichever came first, just because they were a little suspicious of him. They had absolutely no proof that Haney even did anything. Yet they were still going to allow themselves to be engulfed in hatred and...

He shook his head mentally at this. The zoners had gotten too paranoid lately. Not that he couldn’t blame them. They had something of a good reason. But they were taking it way too far. He couldn’t help but notice none of the zoners were trying to help Haney. Typical. So it would seem that it was up to him. And Penny too, of course.

Mint spread his hands out a little bit, glaring daggers in Sandra’s direction, gritting his teeth. He watched as she moved in closer lowering her head, her hot breath hitting against her with each inhale and exhale. Despite the clear threat shining from that single yellow eye glaring down at them, practically bathing them in its yellow light, he still refused to move. Neither did Penny. They both remained put, determined to keep Sandra way from Haney.

Sandra raised her head up slightly, tilting it to one side. (So you made it here after all. I am surprised.) She turned her head in the other direction, staring at the two teenagers with her good eye. (Mind telling me how you got out of the wall of white fire?)

Neither of them bothered to answer. Like hell they were going to tell Sandra that. They just adopted a fighting stance, their fists clenched tightly and teeth gritted.

Upon seeing that she was not going to get an answer, Sandra pulled her head back and let out a loud chuckle. Despite this, she still carried signs of annoyance, both in her body language and in the way she spoe to them. (Well that’s fine. You don’t have to tell me. I can understand that sometimes, secrets must be kept...) Sandra began to pace a little, shaking the ground slightly with each heavy footfall she gave. (We all have our secrets. I’m sure you both have a secret, don’t you?)

Mint and Penny kept silent at this, glaring at Sandra. They watched as she smirked down at them before swinging her head away, continuing to ramble on.

(Don’t be so modest! Why, I’m sure there’s got to be something!) She looked away from them, taking a step steps in one direction, her tail slowly swishing about. She looked out above her, her good eye staring into nothing, really. Her whole body seemed to arch and flex, like she were a large snake of some kind. A flickering tongue would have completed the image. (Like...what about you, dear Penny? Is there something that you have been hiding?)

“Enough fooling around, Sandra!” Penny took a step forward, holding up her magic chalk. “Let’s just get this over with.”

(Oh sure, sure, in a moment.) Sandra raised her hand up. (Don’t go too fast there, little girl.) Sandra turned herself around and she began to move towards Mint. Her eyes narrowed slowly. (What about you? Maybe there is something you have been trying to keep?)

Mint didn’t say anything. He merely glared at the large dragon zoner, baring his teeth. He had no idea just what Sandra was up to, and he wasn’t about to allow himself to get caught up in it. It was clear that Sandra was just trying to kill time while she...whatever it is that she intended to do. Mint had to make sure that she did not get that chance to do...whatever it is that she was intending.

The dragon watched them carefully, not looking that upset at the lack of responses. She just kind of...stared at them, her tail whipping about. She had a grin that spread across her face, her teeth gritted tightly. It was as if she could sense something they did not, though she might just be trying to unnerve them. Which, given that this was Sandra, could certainly be the case.

They struggled to ignore this to the best of their ability. They watched as she moved herself back and began to reposition herself. She walked around them, arching her body in a partial C shape. The blades of her tail scraped along the ground, causing them all to shudder. Mint tried to ignore it, but he could not stop the coldness that swept through his body.

Sandra once more stared at him, and she grinned, her eye glinting as though she discovered something private about him. (I see how it is... I can detect in your eyes how you feel...)

Mint lowered his head, glaring at Sandra, his teeth bared. “I don’t care... Why don’t you stop being so...cryptic, and just fight?”

(That would please you, wouldn’t it? I know it would please me too...)

Sandra moved in closer, lowering her head, crouching low. Her movements were slow and deliberate. Penny moved in closer to Haney, the small chinese dragon huddling behind her, looking up at Sandra fearfully.

(But I think a little chat is in order, don’t you think?) Sandra sneered, spreading her mouth across her muzzle. (It won’t take that long, really. All I’d like to know is...) Sandra suddenly put her face close to Mint’s, causing the boy to jump back, nearly falling over. (Why didn’t you bring little Rudy over? Didn’t he want to come out and...play...?)

“What? No! We wouldn’t...” Mint’s voice trailed off. He realized he had nearly given away the fact that Rudy was nearby. He struggled to keep his mouth clenched shut tightly, leaning away from the massive zoner. “Even if we knew where he was, not like we would ever tell you!”

“Yeah! So why don’t you just back off?!” Penny raised the magic chalk, looking really eager at this point to take action and deal with the massive dragon zoner. As Sandra chortled, Penny gritted her teeth tightly, growling.

(You care for him an awful lot, don’t you? Such a deep connection...) Sandra smirked at Penny before looking at Mint, moving her head in closer. (I do wonder just how deep it runs...)

Mint swallowed, unsure of what Sandra was insinuating. He licked his lips nervously before attempting to glare right back at her. “Why don’t you fight us, Sandra? Or are you too scared?”

At this, Sandra’s eyes widened in shock. She didn’t answer right away; she just looked at him. Mint and Penny moved closer together, keeping in front of Haney, and watched her carefully. When Sandra narrowed her eyes again, pulling her head back in an S shape, they stiffened their bodies, waiting for her next move.

Then, breaking the tense silence, she spoke. (...what did you say?)

sss

Sandra couldn’t believe just how naive these two were. Why in the world would they ask such a stupid question? Did they really forget just who she was? Did they forget all that she had accomplished?

Well no. She knew that much. There was another purpose for this question. It seemed way too...distracting, now that she thought of it. Perhaps they were buying time for someone? Or perhaps they were attempting to upset her, and get her to respond in some way that they want. Well, they were going to have to try a lot harder than that.

Sandra could tell that something was going on. The three teens were usually not without each other, and she knew that Rudy was with them when she had trapped them in fire. Or thought so, anyway. Rudy was here somewhere, and she was going to find out where eventually.

For the time being, however, she kept her eyes focused on these two. She clenched her teeth tightly, snorting through her nostrils, feeling them flare despite being part of a hardened shell. She swung her head to the side, pointing her large horn upwards. A low growl eminated from her throat and she felt as though she was going to strike them at any moment. She kept herself composed; she didn’t want to act too soon.

(Do you really think I’m a coward? Do you really think that I will not run you through? Oh you poor naive little fools.) Sandra lowered her head and moved, her body bending like a snake. She stared at them intently, using whatever vision she had left to regard them coldly. (I’m sure you would like to think that. But even a coward can be dangerous if motivated enough. And you all know what I am fully capable of doing.) White flame leaked out of the corner of her mouth, sparking up in the air. (You might not be zoners, but I’m sure your flesh will still burn all the time. Shall we see?)

Immediately, Mint and Penny showed her their magic chalk pieces. This was enough to cause her to freeze....but only momentarily. With her body relaxing, she chuckled, swinging her tail from side to side.

(Not like that is going to stop me. I can spew fire on you faster than you can draw.) Sandra noted, attempting to sound a little sweeter than she was actually feeling. (I’d love to see you try.)

“Is that a challenge?” Mint spoke through clenched teeth. “I’m sure we can stop you before you can even get a chance to lay your claws on us.”

Sandra tried so hard not to pull her head back and laugh. The humans’ boldness was quite something to see. It made her feel almost bad about what she was doing. The keyboard here was ‘almost’, of course. She had no intent on letting them off so easily. But..perhaps she could humor them a little. It would be quite fun to watch, really.

(Why don’t you give a shot, then?) Sandra held up her massive paw in gesture. (Go ahead and try to see if you can strike me down faster than I can breathe fire. Try to see if you can get anywhere near me before my flames burn you alive. Go ahead and try...)

Mint and Penny hesitated, their bodies shaking. They still tried to look fierce, still looked ready to fight back. But the fact that they were hesitating at all was quite amusing, and so expected. Sandra couldn’t help but sneer at this, her smile spreading despite her efforts to stop it. All it would take for her to win this, is just a simple spew of flames.

She didn’t do anything to hurry things along. She took her sweet little time. She watched Penny and Mint carefully, seeing when or if they were going to make a move. She took note of her half brother’s terrified expression, licking her lips at the sight of it. She slowly moved her tail about and she just continued watching and waiting.

She was so focused on this that she failed to see the object coming until it was too late. And then the pain came, and she threw her head back, roaring loudly. Penny and Mint stared at her in horror as she shook her head, blood floing down from her lower jaw. She heard a shout at her before she became aware of another pain.

“Not so fast!”


	47. In The Line Of Fire

There goes Dr. Sawbones readying his instruments, making sure they're razor sharp!  
-Dr. Sawbones, Creature Feature

sss

Penny brought her hands to her mouth as she gasped in shock at what she was seeing. It had all happened so fast, she barely had time to fully process what was going on. There was a blur, a flash of color, and then suddenly, this was happening. She couldn’t believe it. How did...

“Bell?!”

The tone of Mint’s voice indicated that he, too, was quite shocked by all of this and he was struggling to comprehend it as well. Penny looked over at him, noting his expression. She could see the look in his eyes, the way that his mouth had dropped open. Then she turned and looked back, licking her lips nervously as she watched the bull continue his attack.

It had happened out of nowhere. None of them could have seen it coming. The first indication that anything was going on was the blur of a bullet striking against Sandra’s thick skin. The massive dragon shook her head and had turned her head in where the attacks had come from, only to get attacked again.

The sudden appearance of Bell sent shockwaves through her body. Of all the people that they expected to help them, he was not one of them. They had been certain that he was up to no good, that he could not be trusted, that he was one of their enemies to deal with. Why in the world would he be helping them?

Then again...was he really helping them? Or was he just trying to stop Sandra so that he could go forward with his plan? Either way, though, it did provide her and Mint an opportunity to act.

They knew they had to get Haney out of here. Even if he might be able to help, he had been pretty badly injured, and that made him an easier target for Sandra. They would kick themselves if they allowed an injured zoner to stay and risk getting themselves hurt even more. So rather than taking the risk, Penny knew the best thing to do was just...draw something to help Haney get out of here and fast.

While Sandra was busy with Bell, Penny raised up her magic chalk and quickly drew a stretcher. It took a couple moments, but soon it was finished, resting the ground and ready for use. She nodded her head towards Mint, signalling him to help her. Similar to how they had worked together to help Snap all those years ago, they teamed up once more, this time to help another injured zoner.

Working together, they managed to lift Haney off the ground. The dragon zoner hissed and whimpered as they accidentally irritated his wounds, despite how careful they were being. They then set him on the stretcher, laying him out so that his body as as straight as possible. After this was taken care of, they strapped him down, securing him so that he wouldn’t fall over or anything.

Now they just had to figure out how they were going to get him to safety. Penny frowned at this. She had not thought that far. She and Mint couldn’t leave as they were both needed to stop Sandra. But there weren’t any zoners around, so how were they going to...

Her thoughts were interrupted when Bell’s form suddenly landed just a few feet away. She and Mint jumped to the side, nearly knocking into the stretcher. They looked over and saw him laying on the ground, his limbs straight up as though he were a Real World bovine knocked onto his back. He soon pushed himself up with his hooved hands and rubbed his head. He did not stay on the ground for long and he got up to his feet.

And a second later, he was snagged by Sandra’s tail. He let out a shout of surprise as he was hoisted up into the air and brought close to Sandra’s face. The purple dragon appeared to regard him for several moments, her yellow eye gleaming with curiosity. Bell gritted his teeth in response, an obvious attempt for him to look tougher than he actually felt.

Penny and Mint froze at this, wondering what they should do. Should they intervene and get Bell out of there? Or should they focus on getting Haney out? They looked at one another, several questions flooding each other’s minds. Just what were they going to choose? Even if Bell had been an ass to them before, it still did not seem right to just leave him like this, but Haney...

It was decided silently. They had to help Haney first. It was not the easiest decision to make, but Haney had suffered the most injuries so far, and he could not leave this place on his own. Not like this. So, while Bell was temporarily left to contend with Sandra, Penny and Mint turned to Haney, trying to figure out just how they were going to go about this.

“What are we going to do?” Mint asked as he motioned his hand towards Haney’s strapped form. “We have to move him and...”

“I know we have to move him.” Penny replied. She felt a bit of frustration eating away at her fingertips as she struggled to think of something that could be done about this. She folded her arms and tapped her foot in a slightly impatient manner. “I’m just not show how we can go about this... I can’t believe I didn’t think this far ahead.”

Mint stared at her for a few moments, concern plastered over his face. “Well we have to think of something fast. No offense intended for Bell, but I don’t think he’s going to last much longer against Sandra.”

Penny took a moment and stared at where Bell was currently. Still lifted into the air, still dangling in the dragon’s tail. She narrowed her eyes at this, seeing how Sandra seemed to just be toying with him for the moment. She agreed with Mint that this would not last long. Not like Sandra had a personal score to settle with Bell. They only had a very brief window of opportunity.

But she still was not sure how they were going to get Haney to safety. They needed someone to push him, but there were no zoners. She could attempt to draw something but...

She froze at the very thought of creating another life. Her mind flashed as she thought of when she had created Courtney. She could feel her mind flooding with several memories of the giant condor. She couldn’t help but smile for a little bit. She had almost forgotten how much fun that they had together.

And then the memory of finding her skeleton came and...

Penny took in a shap, shaky breath at this. She could feel tears move in the back of her eyes, struggling to come out. She tried to control her breathing, tried to keep herself from crying. But this did not last very long and soon her eyes dripped with tears, falling down to the ground. She could not stop her mind being flooded with burning, chilling thoughts of seeing Courtney’s skeletal remains and... Oh gawd...

Could she really go through with it? Could she really bring herself to create another life that might die at Sandra’s claws? Could she truly attempt to draw another living zoner? Even if it might mean saving a life, would she really consider....

She heard a groan and whimper and she stared at Haney once more. She noted his expression, how much he was in pain, and how terrified he was. The sight of this caused her gut to twist and she bit her lip. The longer she held off on doing this, the more danger she was putting Haney through, she realized. She...had to do something. She could not allow herself to be consumed by her emotions. Not while someone was depending on her.

She narrowed her eyes as she stared at the magic chalk. She lifted it up a little higher, keeping her eyes glued to it. She knew what she had to do. And there was no turning back.

“Penny...?” Mint asked. The look in his eyes suggested that he had a feeling what she had thought of doing. He licked his lips slowly, looking a bit uncertain about the whole thing. “Are you...absolutely positive you want to...”

Penny glared softly at him and nodded her head once. “Yes, I’m sure. I am ready for this.”

“Okay then...” Mint breathed in deeply and exhaled. He took one more look at Sandra and then Haney and motioned his hand towards her. “Proceed then.”

Penny still hesitated. She had not created another living zoner in quite some time, and seeing what happened to Courtney made it more difficult to bring herself to do this. It was still a struggle to force her stiff arm to move. It took her what felt like a minute or two before she could bring herself to move her arm at all.

But once she did, it was smooth sailing...for the most part. Even though she was moving the chalk around and drawing something, some of the lines were still a little jagged. She still could not fully relax enough to make lines that were fully smooth. But the end result should be fine, right? So long that the creation could function....

She tried to keep her mind focused as she continued drawing the new creature. Choosing a form was not that difficult. She needed something that could multitask and who had a strong grip. There were several animals to choose from to base her new creation off of. And there was one in particular that she felt fit the bill perfectly. Mint’s reaction indicated he was not as big of a fan of this, but not like he argued; he knew that the more important thing was to get Haney to safety. And this was one of the best ways how.

Soon all the lines were formed, round and smooth and long with a few sharp ends. In a few seconds, they glowed briefly and the new zoner came into view.

There, standing before them, was a somewhat humanoid octopus. A large bulbeous head attached to a sleek-looking body. Two sets of arms and two sets of legs. A three pointed beak, much like how a squid’s mouth actually was. And the eyes, set far apart, stared at them, the horizontal pupils practically glowing in color.

Penny took a moment to allow the sensation of creating another zoner go through her body. She could feel the energy sweeping through every corner, tingling at her fingertips. It was the first time in a while that she created something and the emotional response that her body was feeling was just...unexpected. She had to take a moment to freeze, allowing these feelings go through, allowing the feelings of disbelief to wash over her. It took her a little while to realize that, yes, she had created a new zoner. She had give birth, in a sense, to another life.

She had to make sure that this new creation did not suffer the same way that Courtney did.

“Penny..you drew an octopus?” Mint whispered softly as he stared at the zoner in disbelief. “I thought you would..”

Penny whirled her head around and glared at him. “We can discuss that later!” She then turned her attention back to her new creation. She licked her lips slowly, and then she started to speak. “Hello...” Penny paused for a moment, trying to think of a name. “...Azrel...” She flinched. That name sounded horrible. But now her creation was stuck with it. “I have a task for...”

“No need to explain.” The octopus raised their hand up immediately, stopping her from speaking further. The octopus motioned their long, tentacle arm in one direction. “You want me to carry that poor bloke somewhere, am I right?” Penny did not speak, looking a little stunned. “You are my creator, are you not? I could hear your intentions for me the moment that I was created.”

“Oh..that is right...” Mint whispered softly. He gently nudged Penny. “Well come on. It looks like Azrel has this under control. Let’s go and help Bell before Sandra turns him into minced meat.”

Penny did not reply to Mint. She kept her eyes focused on Azrel. She did feel a little silly for forgetting about the whole ‘zoners often know what their creators intended for them’ bit. That much should have been rather obvious to her. Then again, she had spent so little time actually creating life herself that it was no surprise if it slipped her mind every so often. Still, she wished that she had better memory.

She shook the thought out of her mind for now. She could worry about that later. Right now, they needed to get started. Mint was right. They now needed to focus on trying to help Bell. With Azrel created and fully ready to get going, that freed her and Mint up to take care of Sandra.

Before she headed out, however, she paused and took a moment to stare over at the octopus zoner. Their eyes locked onto each other. This was a rather strange feeling. Creator looking at their creation in the eyes... Even if she had created life before, this was still a very weird sensation. It was almost uncomfortable, and yet, there was something about this feeling that was just...

“Please, get Haney to safety.” Penny finally spoke, breaking the silence. She motioned over to where Haney was still strapped to the seat. “Get him to the nearby hospital as quickly as you can.”

Azrel nodded their head once. “I am well aware of the situation. Do not worry. I will get the little bloke out of harm’s way.”

With that, Azrel began to move. Penny took note of the squid-like way that they moved. All tentacly, with sunction cups popping as they moved forward. Even when they grabbed onto the stretcher, the way the tentacles wrapped around and held on, and them moving forward... It was quite something to see. It was pretty difficult to turn away from due to how different it was compared to anything else that they had seen before. She don’t think she could recall a moment when a zoner moved quite like this.

She managed to tear her eyes away after a couple of seconds and then she looked over at where Bell was still being held. She narrowed her eyes at this. It did not seem like Sandra was going to make a move against Bell right away, but who knows how accurate this was? Knowing Sandra, she could strike at any given moment.

She looked over at Mint and gave a nod of her head. He exchanged the same gesture to her. No need for any words. They both knew exactly what they had to do. Turning their attention back to where Sandra and Bell were, they began to make their way over, quietly, ensuring that Sandra did not hear them.

So far, Sandra seemed to only be chatting with Bell. She had not attempted to do anything with him. She was just...teasing him for whatever reason. Sandra must be confident that they couldn’t win against her to even try to pull a risk like that. All that did was give Penny and Mint a chance to get at her, and that was an opportunity that they were indeed going to take.

The fact that Sandra was now blind in one eye certainly helped. They kept to her blind side, where she had no capability of seeing them. Her remaining eye was staring solely at Bell, and she was grinning as she continued to mock him. Her words were harsh, but caused a mixed creation. On the one hand, they could see Sandra’s point. Bell had made some poor decisions. But on the other hand, she was being a little too harsh, and she was being something of a hypocrite; not like she was fully innocent herself.

They pushed this aside, though, as they had other things to worry about aside from Sandra being a hypocrite, which they already knew that she was. Keeping to Sandra’s blind side, they moved in closer, moving slowly and deliberately.

Mint looked over at Penny. “We should split up.” He whispered softly. He motioned with his hands, indicating where he was going. “I’ll head over that way. And you...” He motioned over in another direction. “...head over there. We’ll be able to...”

Suddenly, they were interrupted by something large and purple falling down their way. The two teenagers barely had time to jump out of the way before the thing slammed against the ground between them. They fall into the ground, groaning in pain as their shoulders hit against the hard, rocky surfaces. They lifted themselves up and looked between them. It took a few seconds before the smoke cleared and then...

A large tail. Sandra’s tail. Penny widened her eyes at this, feeling thoughts swirling through their head. No... Did Sandra really see them already? Had she been pretending? Did they really miss their chance to...

(It is quite something to see you two trying to sneak around me. Think that a blind eye means I do not notice?) Sandra moved herself over, crouching low and walking closer. (And you are supposed to be saviors of this world? How can you be saviors if you are this easily taken off guard?)

Penny gritted her teeth, taking a defensive posture. How did Sandra figure out what they were doing? She must have smelled them or something, and...

Wait, where was Bell? Penny suddenly realized that he was nowhere in sight. She looked left and right, trying to find him. But there was just...nothing. It was as if the bovine zoner had just up and disappeared. But....what happened?

Penny did not have long to think before she felt something grab onto her.

“Penny!”

The girl could feel herself being lifted up into the air in a swift motion. She grunted as she felt Sandra’s paw tighten around her. She gagged and struggled to keep breathing, Sandra coming close to starting to cut off her air supply. She squirmed about in the paw, unable to free herself. Then she turned and glared at Sandra, her teeth bared.

Sandra just smirked at this, tilting her head to one side. (How about we start a little game? I think it will be quite fun...) Sandra took a moment to peer down at Mint before looking back at Penny. (I see how your two guy friends have something...permanent about them. What about you? Maybe I can help with that...)

“No!” Mint shouted.

Penny could not speak. The only thing she could do was stare at Sandra in horror, her eyes widening as the massive dragon took a good look at her left arm. Penny already had a good idea of what Sandra planned on doing...and it caused her blood to chill.

“N-No...please...” Penny pleaded. “Y-You can’t...” But as much as she struggled, she could not get herself free. She was trapped. The only thing that she could do was stare at Sandra in horror, silently pleading with her not to hurt her.

sss

Rudy froze in his spot, staring at the scene in utter horror. He could not take his eyes off of Sandra, or off of Penny. He could feel his heart skipping several beats as he tried to comprehend the thoughts that raced through his mind. They swirled and swam about, and no matter what he tried, he just could not get himself to relax or to think clearly.

His wide green eyes continued to remain glued to Penny, who had been lifted up off the ground, and now was at the mercy of Sandra. Mint was trying to help her out, but of course, there was very little that he could actually do. He could keep trying to fight against Sandra. He could try to attack her and get Penny free.... But Sandra clearly had the upperhand here. All she had to do was spew flames at them and...

Rudy gritted his teeth. He needed to figure out what he could do and fast. If he didn’t do...something, then his friends were going to be in huge trouble. He couldn’t just sit here and let that happen. He needed to take action. He needed to save them.

The question was...how as he going to do that? He could not very well rush in and strike at Sandra. He was in a wheelchair and he would not be able to move over this terrain so easily. He could try...but he would not have much success or anything. He’d just get stuck and then he might get grabbed, leaving them all in a more vulnerable position.

This realization made his heart clench tightly. He wished that there was a better way of dealing with this. He wished that there was just..some way that they could get out of this mess. But...what were they going to do? What was he going to do? It was so difficult trying to think of a way out of this situation and... He sucked in a sharp breath through his clenched teeth. He just...could not think of anything that he could do to help his friends in this situation.

He needed to draw something. But...what could he draw? His mind was spinning so fast that... He just wasn’t sure if he could think clearly enough to come up with something that would be helpful. He had to try to think of something, but how could he when his mind just felt too...spinny? Too filled with anxiety to do much more than just stare in horror as Sandra threatened Penny...

He shook his head, trying to force himself to unfreeze, to try to move about and try to get himself to take action. Wheelchair or not, he needed to do something to help Penny before Sandra could...do whatever it is that she planned to do with Penny. Rudy had no idea what she was up to, but the way she spoke with what she said to Penny earlier... It was enough to make him shudder in horror. He didn’t want to think about what Sandra had meant. He only wanted to get Penny out of there.

He looked down at his piece of magic chalk. He struggled to think of something to draw. He needed something to distract Sandra long enough for Penny to get away. But...just what kind of thing would Sandra be distracted by....?

Well there’s ‘promise breakers’ and ‘people disrespecting the honor of eating a friend’. But both of those required real zoners. And Rudy could not think to imagine drawing something that was alive for this. No, that would just be way too cruel. He’d never do something like that. There had to be a much better way of handling this. There just had to be something else.

Then he felt something flicker into light in the back of his mind. What if he were to try something similar, but with a nonliving machine? Sandra would not know if it was alive or not; if she were peeved enough, she would not even try focus on the scent and just go after the direction of the voice. Rudy knew that Sadnra would get easily peeved about promises being broken, so if he drew something that would repeat a few certain lines....

Rudy stiffened when he heard a scream echoing across the land. He turned his head over and he could see that Sandra had knocked Mint away. Rudy flinched as he heard his friend slam against the wall. Mint soon laid there, appearing to be unable to move or get up any time soon.

Penny was having a fit. She was screaming at Sandra, being quite bold in her language, clawing and biting at Sandra’s hand, trying to do something to make her let go of her. Sandra did not seem to pay her much mind, though, as she began to make her way over towards Mint slowly, her tail whipping from side to side.

Rudy held his breath as Sandra appeared to begin firing up her white fire breath. His mind momentarily flashed back to a few times recently he had seen the flames in action. He then shook the thought out of his mind and he tried to refocus his attention on concentrating on what to do.

But with Sandra getting so close...

That was it. Rudy could not handle it any further. He could not just sit here and try to think; there was just no time for that. He needed to take action now before his friends were killed by this monster. He picked up his magic chalk and, without thinking or planning more fully, he just started to draw as quickly as he could.

sss

Dr. Crobat’s mouth dropped open, unable to look away from the horrible sight. He struggled to keep his breathing in check, not wanting to do anything to give himself away. This was getting harder to control the longer he watched this horrible scene play out before him.

Taima was not doing much better. He looked like he was ready to rush over, ready to attack... Yet he knew that they could not make a move just yet. They had to wait for the right time, otherwise they would screw everything up. It was too risky to head over there now. What if they ended up getting someone hurt?

Ripclaw was especially restless. Dr. Crobat and Taima had to work together to keep her under control. The massive dinosaur released low growls and hisses, her eyes fixated forward. She would attempt to lurch forward a few times and it took a bit of effort to ensure that she never got that far. Her lips were curled back into a snarl and her eyes blazed and flashed with color and emotion. Drool dripped down from her jaws and her claws flexed eagerly, curling in against themselves and her palms.

Dr. Crobat bit his lip as he struggled to figure out just how they were going to handle this. He did not know how much longer they could even hold onto the dinosaur, and they didn’t know how long they actually had left before they could take action.

He could feel his gut twisting and burning at the feeling of helplessness. He didn’t want to feel like this. He tried to tell him that it wasn’t his fault, that he had already done what he could and he just had to wait until the time was right. But the thing was....he didn’t know when he could take action. Splitting up may have been a good thought at the time, to make it easier for them to act as backup. But trying to figure out just how to play it all out... He was at a loss.

Yet the longer they stood around here, the more likely it was that Mint and Penny were going to get hurt. He could see them out there, being menaced by Sandra. Rudy was nowhere to be seen, and he didn’t know if this meant that something happened to him or if he was just hiding. He licked his beak slowly, wanting so much to shout at them and ask them what the heck was going on, yet not being able to bring himself to do any such thing. He swallowed hard as his grip on Sandra’s feathery body increased.

At the moment, it did not seem that Penny was in any danger of being hurt too fast. Sandra did not seem interested in attacking her too fast. Not that it made the situation that much better. Seeing how Penny was reacting, seeing Sandra’s expression, it was made clear to the bird zoner and his two companions that Sandra was taking her time with this. Slow and steady, taking care to make it as mentally excruciating as she could.

And the way that she kept messing with Penny’s left arm... While it wasn’t anything outwardly serious, she was giving...too much attention here. The way she was behaving indicated that she had...some sort of plan to do with that arm. But just what could that...

Dr. Crobat froze, his blood freezing, when he realized a plausibility. He turned his head to Taima, exchanging a horrified glance with him. The stick figure zoner looked back at him, perplexed, clearly not seeing what he was. Dr. Crobat looked back, his eyes remaining wide open.

Dr. Crobat gritted his beak. It would seem that they had much less time to deal with this than he had thought. If Sandra had truly planned to do what he thought was going to happen... He had already known they had little time, but this only made matters worse. Penny might.... He pushed the thoughts aside as he licked his lips slowly and forcibly took a step forward.

“What are you doing?” Whispered Taima. “I thought you told us we had to wait.” Taima did not sound too scolding in that voice. Which made sense; he was more eager to attack than to wait here for long. Whether this was the result of wanting to redeem himself or not didn’t matter.

Dr. Crobat let out a sigh and nodded his head. “Indeed I said that. But we still have to be careful.” He kept staring out at where Sandra still held Penny. He couldn’t help but flinch as he momentarily looked at Mint, seeing him lay on the ground, shivering in pain. “I just don’t know how we can go about this. We don’t have magic chalk. What if we...”

Taima cut him off. “Do you think that should stop us? Most of us zoners go on without the magic chalk. And there have been a number of zoners who challenged creators in the past, including them. “Taima pointed out at where Penny and Mint were. “We might not have the same capabilities as them...” He motioned to himself. “But we are not helpless.”

Dr. Crobat wanted to feel encouraged by these words. He wanted to take Taima’s words to heart and fuel that desire of himslef to want to fight back. He could feel some kind of warm sensation start to rise inside of him and he could feel himself start to shake slighlty in anticipation.

But that all came to a screeching hault when he realized that the issue Taima was not considering was size. The bird zoner gave a slightly backwards glance at where Sandra was. Even this was enough for him to tell that Sandra was quite large in this state. A massive, bulky dragon that reached twenty...no, over twenty feet long. She was large enough to tear down buildings and had a powerful flame breath, and she now sported long, feathered wings that she could use to create powerful gusts of wind if she really wanted to.

The bird zoner found himself at a loss. On the one hand, he did want to at least try to help. They really didn’t have that much time left to decide. Yet on the other hand, if he made one false move...

“Aaaaahhhh!”

Dr. Crobat was taken aback by the loud scream that rattled through the air. He looked up, his eyes bulging, as he saw Sandra start to yank on Penny’s arm a little. A sort of ‘playful’ gesture, but the sinister undertones were there. Dr. Crobat felt his teeth clenching tightly against each other, and he seethed.

That scream, it reminded him so much of Dr. Gelcro...

His mind froze at the thought of his late friend. He could still see his face in the back of his mind. He could still see him right beside him. He could still hear his laughter, hear his arguments, just...overall feel like he was really here. It was too difficult for him to believe that he was really dead...

But he knew that the human creators would not lie about this. Dr. Crobat had to accept that his dear friend really was gone, never to return. He would never again see Dr. Gelcro. Only at his funeral and gravesite would he ever lay eyes upon him again. He shut his eyes, squeezing his eyelids together, allowing for a few tears to move down his cheeks.

A part of him wondered if this could have been avoided if he did not allow himself to be controlled so easily. If he had just been more careful...if he had strived to keep himself from allowing Bell to use his body like a toy, would he have been able to...

He shook the thoughts out of his mind. In the end, there was nothing more that he could do for his friend. He was dead and nothing was ever going to change that. He needed to refocus his attention on doing something now, doing something to help Penny while he still had the chance. He might be too late to save Dr. Gelcro, but he was not too late to help out Penny. And Mint and Rudy and whoever else was being menaced by Sandra.

He narrowed his eyes into slits. It was time to take action.

“Taima...come with me.” Dr. Crobat spoke, finally breaking the silence that fell between them. He could see Taima shift a little, watching him, waiting for further instructions. “I need you to...”

He didn’t have a chance to finish when he saw some kind of blur to his side. He turned his head over quickly, hearing a few cracks of pebbles as something stepped forward. He could see a shape moving along the fallen chunk of wall situated not far from him and the other two. He narrowed his eyes, unsure if he recognized who this was at first.

Then, from out behind the rubble, a large figure emerged. And it took him only seconds to recognize who it was.

“B-Bell...” Dr. Crobat choked.

Immediately, Taima was on the offensive. “What do you want..?” This question was intermixed with Ripclaw’s hissing, who looked less pleased to see the bull zoner standing before them.

Bell did not speak a word. He just...stood there for several moments, his glaring eyes focused upon them. He seemed to regard them in an almost cold fashion, his teeth gritted slightly as though he were disgusted with them. His whip-like tail moved about from side to side rapidly, as though some kind of wind were pushing it about.

For a while, there was nothing but silence. The tension between Bell and Dr. Crobat and his allies grew. It was like a thickness that just kept getting larger, to the point where he was amazed that they could even still breathe. He found it difficult to move his eyes away from the bull’s gaze, and he thought that he could almost see the aura radiating around him. An aura filled with anger and insanity.

But instead of snapping at them like he expected, instead of attempting to chew them apart or try to go forward with whatever his plans had been, Bell just..remained where he was in silence. There was something else flickering in his eyes as well. Something that did not seem to be that of insanity, but instead...something more like...remorse...?

Dr. Crobat didn’t have much time to think about that before Bell had begun to speak.

“Fancy meeting you here...” He spoke. His voice was low and growly. Yet even then, there was still a tinge of...something on his voice. “Ain’t this my lucky day...?”

Ripclaw bared her sharp teeth at him and let out a loud growl. She snapped her jaws at him, a loud clanging sound giving out. Bell was not fazed by this.

“She is right, you know.” Taima growled. “You are an untrustworthy piece of...”

“Hold it.” Dr. Crobat raised his hand up, stopping Taima before he could continue. Though Taima looked irritated and confused, he did nothing to interrupt the bird from speaking. “Just...why are you here?” He asked carefully, tilting his head to the side. “I would have thought that...”

Bell growled through his clenched teeth. “Look, I know what it might look like. And I know how you must feel about me. But trust me... I did not plan for this.” He motioned to himself. “This is not what I wanted.” He used his hand to indicate where Sandra was. “I did not think that this would have...”

“What, you didn’t think that things could have gone out of control?!” Dr. Crobat found himself screeching at him. “How could you have done something like this?! How could you have taken such a stupid risk?!”

“I know, I know...” Bell nodded his head. “And you have every right to be angry at me. But..” Bell looked over at where Sandra was. “Do you mind scolding me after this problem is taken care of...?”

Dr. Crobat and Taima looked at each other. Neither of them were entirely sure about this. And it was easy to tell that Ripclaw did not sound pleased either. How could they trust Bell with this? How could they give him a chance after what he had done? If it was truly his plans that resulted in all of this...

But at the same time, if he really was trying to make amends, if he was attempting to right at least some of the wrong that he made, then shouldn’t they at least give him a chance to do that? Shouldn’t they offer him a chance to try to make things better? Shouldn’t they at least let him try? If he tried anything funny, they would be right there to stop him. And well, in the end, if he truly wanted Skrawl to rule over this place...

...well, having Sandra cause so much destruction would kind of get in the way of all that, wouldn’t it?

“All right then...” Dr. Crobat spoke. He used a firm tone of voice, a silent way of telling Bell that he had better be willing to cooperate. “Then a temporary truce, then?”

Bell paused for a moment. Then he nodded his head one. “Truce.” He reached forward and shook Dr. Crobat’s outstretched wing hand. Then he took a step back and to the side. “She would like to help as well.”

Dr. Crobat widened his eyes as she saw the small, familiar reptilian form emerge from behind Bell. “Mosaic...?”

sss

Hearing Penny scream was music to Sandra’s ears. She gripped onto her limb even harder, pressing her claws against her flesh more firmly. She gave another swift yank. Not enough to actually tear the limb off or anything. But enough to make Penny scream loudly.

It was quite amusing the way Penny attempted to fight back. She would squirm about in her paw, trying to get herself free. Of course, she was too weak to free herself from her current situation. It was fun just watching Penny try to get herself out. Did she really think she was going to get too far? Did she think that she stood a chance?

(This is all quite fun.) Sandra cooed softly as she tilted her head in one direction. Her tail swooshed around. (You are quite the entertainment. It is just too bad that I am going to have to put an end to all of this. I do wonder..) Sandra lowered her head closer. (How long will you live with a missing limb?)

Penny stared up at her in horror. She squirmed about, twisting from side to side. “No..please, don’t!” Penny cried out to her. “Y-You can’t...!”

Sandra merely beamed at this, as if she had heard the most terrific of all news. (Oh, you are saying I can take off your arm? Oh how very generous of you...) Sandra watched as Penny’s eyes widened further in utter horror. She licked her jaws slowly, anticipating Penny’s scream for when she finally went through with it. (It won’t take that long...)

Sandra listened to Penny’s continued protests as she regarded her tremblign, struggling form. She had spent the last several moments just playing with her. She hadn’t really made much of an attempt to hurt her that badly; she had only wanted to have a little bit of fun.

But she knew that she could not waste that much more time. She had a feeling that Rudy was around here somewhere. She did not believe for a second that Rudy had abandoned his friends. That did not seem like him. He was probably hiding somewhere, waiting to take action. She clenched her teeth tightly. She could not allow him a chance to make a move.

Then there was Mint. He was still on the ground, but for how long? Surely he would get up soon and try to fight back. And with the magic chalk, he would be quite the threat. Unlike Rudy, he could actually run and manuever himself. It would be quite difficult to stop him. She had been lucky to be able to strike him when she did, preventing him from being able to take any further action against her for a while. But how long would that last?

Sandra turned her gaze back upon Penny. This had been a lot of fun, and she wished that she could continue. But...no, she could not draw this out any further. It was time to take the next step in her plan. She gave a quick chortle. She hoped that Penny was ready, otherwise... Well, that would be just too bad, right?

(Little dear Penny... You do not need to worry. I will end this tense situation for you.) Sandra once more tightened her trip on Penny. Her two large claws pressed firmly against Penny’s arm, squeezing it to the point of near breakage. (It will be a simple task.)

“Wait! No!” Penny screamed at her. She tugged at her arm as hard as she could. She flinched at the pain that this was causing her, only to keep pulling on her arm anyway. “Let me go! You can’t do this to me!”

(Such generic little statements...) Sandra teased Penny. She bared her teeth a little, showing the sharp tips. (You sound so cute when you make them. I wonder how long you can keep making them when I rip out your little arm here.)

“No!”

(Oh yes... I imagine it will only take one little tug...)

“P-Please...don’t...”

Sandra just chuckled at this, licking her tongue along her armored mouth. She would love to continue this little game of cat and mouse. She would love to hear more of what Penny said. But... no, it was time to take action now. She could feel her head aching and body partially twitching in excitement for the screams that would surely follow.

(Time for the show to begin.) Sandra raised Penny slightly up and she bent her neck in an S shape. She kept both front limbs raised up, holding onto Penny both gently and firmly. She kept her digits gripped tightly around Penny’s arm. (Are you ready?)

She gave a smirk as Penny shook her head rapidly, pleading with her not to go through with it. Sandra just shrugged it all off and she pretended as though Penny had never said anything. She then turned her focus onto Penny’s arm. She grinned broadly, her yellow eye glinting with anticipation and a bit of insanity. Then, tensing up her muscles, getting an even tighter grip, she began to tug.

Suddenly, there was a loud, booming scream. And it was not Penny making it. To her shock, Sandra herself was the one who had erupted in the scream, a seering pain suddenly shooking through her thick, muscular neck. She swayed her head about to one side and then to the other. She could feel something in her neck, pain radiating from where it all began.

Then she felt something warm.... Something had penetrated her neck.

Her remaining eye widening, Sandra turned her head to one side and tried to look down along her neck to see what had happened. It was difficult as she could not bend her neck far enough to get a good view. But she could see...something sticking out. Some kind of arrow? She clenched her teeth at this. Who had dared...

Sandra turned her head, keeping the arrow in tact, and looked at the direction it had come from. She followed the trajectory in her mind, and she soon focused on the spot where it had to have originated. She narrowed her eyes, her pupil turning into a slit. She began to make her way over, her large feet pounding against the ground.

There was some kind of...thing here. It was quite strange. It did not seem like it was part of the area around it. Indeed, this thing seemed to be made of a different material. Once that she did not see anywhere else around her. It was almost as though someone had just randomly stuck it here for some reason. Though for what reason, she couldn’t really tell.

Then she happened to spot the hole there. A little opening, and she could see the faintest bit of something there. Her eyes widened as she realized that this was where the arrow had been fired. Narrowing her eyes and letting out a growl, she raised her foot up and she stomped down.

In seconds, her foot smashed through the shield, crumbling it into several pieces on the ground. She could hear a shout of horror and shock at this, and the flash of something moving back fast. It had taken her a little while to see who it was, but as the dust cleared, she could easily make out the details of a very familiar looking wheelchair...

(Rudy Tabootie...) Sandra spoke as she glared down at the boy. (Of course, I should have known that it was you...)

“Rudy!” Penny pushed against Sandra’s grasp, forming a fist with one hand and striking against Sandra’s large fist. “G-Get out of here! Run!”

Sandra couldn’t help but laugh. She looked over at Penny with her remaining eye. (Oh but he can’t run, now can he...?)

Penny stared at her in horror, licking her lips slowly. “Please...let him go, Sandra...”

The purple dragon just chuckled at this before turning her attention back to where Rudy laid. She stared at his fallen form, amused by the predicament that he had placed himself in. If he had just stayed out of this like a good little boy, he wouldn’t be in this mess. He had only himself to blame, even if he will act like this is not the case.

Rudy couldn’t go anywhere, anyway. Not like this. The force of her strike had caused him to fall against his side, the wheelchair toppling over. Rudy’s useless legs were bent awkwardly, and it looked like at least one of them was broken. Not like this bothered him; he could barely feel his legs. But it was clear that, with the wheelchair pushing him into the ground, that his shoulder was starting to ache.

Sandra pondered just what she should do. She was half tempted to keep going on with Penny. Or perhaps she should figure out a way to punish Rudy. It was clear that he needed more discipline. That is, if he was going to stick around and be anything more than he already was. There was plenty for him if he just...

Sandra screeched as Rudy was able to pull the trigger to his weapon again. A platform with stretching strings that held a seemingly neverending supply of arrows. She looked down, noting the additional blood that was trinkling down the front of her neck. She looked back at Rudy and hissed, snorting out of her nostrils.

(Is that the way you want to play it? Okay then, fine...) Sandra looked at Penny before deciding to release her. She threw her in the ground as hard as she could, ignoring her screams. As Penny landed in the rubble painfully, Sandra reached towards Rudy. (I can play that little game...)

Even when Rudy attempted to bite her in self defense, it was not enough to stop the dragon from grabbing onto the boy. She yanked him upwards into the air, ripping him easily out of the wheelchair. Rudy flinched and yelped as the belt snapped from the force, likely leaving a bruise behind. She lifted him several feet into the air, watching as he struggled against her grasp. It wasn’t as lively given that he was paralyzed, but still amusing to watch.

Then, without warning, she opened her jaws and she bit down onto his leg. Rudy released a scream, not out of pain, but out of panic. Sandra could taste Rudy’s blood entering her mouth. She could feel it burning her tongue and she was certain some steam was rising out from this. Yet, despite the pain, she still bit down harder, feeling her teeth collide with the bone. She continued to tighten her jaw around her leg until she could feel the bone crack and give way. Keeping her jaws closed around the leg, she gave Rudy one last smirk before she ripped away his leg, a loud snap echoing across the area.

Blood rapidly pooled out of the wound, a bony stub showing where the remainder of the leg happened to be. Sandra then allowed Rudy to fall to the ground in a heap. She dropped his leg down beside him, landing not far away. Rudy looked over and his green eyes instantly locked onto the limb that had once been part of him. He instantly froze.

(Such a shame...) Sandra spoke, acting as if this was all just a casual thing. (Had you only listened to me...)

She didn’t bother finishing. She could hear Penny screaming and rushing over to Rudy’s side. Sandra watched as the girl knelt before Rudy and grabbed onto him, pleading with him to be okay. Sandra merely narrowed her eyes at this and scoffed. It wasn’t like the boy needed that leg to be useful, anyway.

Sandra remained utterly silent as Penny struggled to stop the bleeding. She had quickly drawn a makeshift tourniquet and was securing it around his leg tightly, at the groin where it began. But even as she did this, the blood continued to poor rapidly from the open wound, leaking onto the ground and starting to partially dissolve it. Sandra narrowed her eyes at this. Perhaps she might have gotten a little carried away. The boy wouldn’t be useful if he were dead..

Oh well, she still had two other options. Mint and Penny could make good replacements in case Rudy died. And she only needed one of them.... It was decided. If Rudy died, Mint would be the replacement. And she would deal with Penny shortly after Rudy died. She just needed to take care that Mint would not perish. Having a creator would be quite important if she was ever going to...

Wait, how was she going to work out the feeding thing? She still hadn’t really figured that part out. She had so busy with other things that she hadn’t considered how she would keep her human captive alive. Well, she was certain she would figure something out soon enough anyway. She just had to give it some time. Perhaps once things settled down, she could think more clearly and she would be able to work it out.

She hissed when something struck against her, whizzing past and into the air. She could feel the stinging of something sharp having cut through her neck, feeling more blood drip out of it. She turned her head around, expecting to see Mint standing there, or some foolish citizen trying to stop her.

Well, she got it right the first time. Mint had finally recovered from the blow that she had given him and now he stood there, his fists clenched tightly, one holding the magic chalk while the other had something pointed directly at her. A gun of some sort.

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this, trying to think of what she could do. She turned her head slightly so that she could look at where Penny and Rudy were. She imagined that they were going to be busy for a while. So she could focus her full attention on Mint for a short time. Hissing softly, she began to make her way over towards her creator.

She noticed how Mint stayed firmly planted. Even though he was in some obvious pain, he didn’t do anything to try to back down or anything. He just kind of...glared at her, his eyes narrowed into slits. He pointed the weapon at her, aiming right for her neck. Not that she was concerned; none of the attacks hit anything vital and it would take a lot more before she’d bleed to death. Still, she had to make sure that he didn’t try to harm her too quickly.

And she had an easy solution for that.

Opening her jaws, she released another blast of white fire, this one heading straight for Mint. Just as she had predicted, the teenaged human dropped his weapon in shock as he jumped to the side. He still had the magic chalk, but with the weapon gone, that allowed her to act.

Mint let out a cry of pain when her massive foot struck down upon him. Her weight kept him down, preventing him from getting back up. Mint squirmed about, shouting at her, demanding to be let go. All Sandra could do was smirk at him. It was amusing to watch her creator try so hard to get away.

(My, my... Look at what we have here. I see that my creator had decided to join in the fun after all...) Sandra spoke in a mocking tone. She could feel him thrashin about underneath her front foot. (Hmm, and such a feisty little creator you are. Trying to take me down with your pathetic weapon. Perhaps I need to teach you a lesson?)

Mint looked up at her, his eyes showing some hint of fear, like she had hoped. But then he curled his lips up into a snarl and he shouted, “Fuck you!”

Sandra’s eye widened at this. Then she chuckled. (And what a tongue you have. Maybe I should tear it out?) Sandra motioned one of her digits against his head a little. (Would that hurt you, my little creator? I mean, I don’t think you will need your tongue for creating anything. Is it really that vital?)

Mint looked up at her in utter horror. His squirming about increased. He was now violently thrashing, trying to free himself, letting out loud screams for help. But all he ended up doing was making himself look quite adorable. She licked her lips slowly in anticipation. Then, slowly, she began to lead her head in.

sss

No... No, this couldn't be happening. This isn't what he had planned on. No...

Rudy stared at his severed leg, laying not far from him. He couldn't tear his eyes away from it. Even though the sight of it was causing his heart to race, his breathing to get fast and raspy, there was just...no way for him to move his gaze away. It was almost as if he were entranced by the torn limb, as though his mind were physically glued to it. And no matter what he tried, he found it was impossible to look away.

He was only vaguely aware of Penny holding onto him. He could barely sense that she was there, tying something around his leg to…what...? Stop the bleeding? That had to be it, though his increasingly groggy mind had difficult fully processing this. Only fear was processible, and right now, fear was telling him to flee. To run from the danger...and yet he could not. He could not move his legs. Panic started to spread through his mind at this.

Why did he have to be so stupid...? Why did he have to do something like this...? Why didn't he take better precautions? Why didn't he plan better? Why didn't he...

Even through his pain and fear, he could still register enough to realize that it was his own fault he had gotten into this mess. He should have stuck with his initial plan. He should have just created that distraction device like he had wanted. He should have executed a diversion without drawing attention to himself. He should have been a lot more careful... And yet he had allowed himself to be overtaken by his emotions. He had allowed himself to get drawn into the fury, and he had allowed his anger to get the better of him.

He had seen what Sandra was about to do with Penny. He had seen the way she was treating her. He had seen Penny's fear, Sandra's cruelty. He had heard Penny's screams and the way that Sandra laughed in response to them. The whole thing had filled him up with rage, and he could feel his stomach burning, churning inside of him.

A feeling of nausea had spread throughout his body, clinging to the back of his throat, making him want to open his mouth and empty his stomach contents. He could remember that feeling all too well, like an achey afterimage burn in the back of his mind

And because of that, he had gotten too hasty. He moved too fast. He skipped that distraction altogether He just wanted to stop Sandra. He just wanted to get her to let go of Penny, to leave her alone. And due to that, he was not as cautious as he should have been. His idiocy had screwed this whole thing up...

Now he had lost a leg. He had felt no pain, but he felt the pressure and he could practically hear the blood dripping out from the wound. He could feel his body rapidly growing weaker as his blood continued to seep out. He could feel his heart start to spin faster and faster, the grogginess overtaking him further.

He could feel his vision start to blur. Even the leg before him became more and more indiscernable as time went on. He slowly blinked his eyes, hoping that, somehow, that would correct his vision. But instead, his vision just continued to get blurrier and darker.

He could hear a faint voice calling out to him. Distant and echoy, as though someone from far away were trying to communicate with him. Rudy let out a soft groan as he lifted his head up and looked at where the sound seemed like it was coming from. He blinked his eyes a few times as he could see Penny...or at least, he thought it looked like Penny. At this point, his vision was just so blurred, it looked as if he was trying to see through a wavy glass filled with sloshing water. No matter how many times he blinked his eyes, hoping things would clear up, it just made his vision worse and worse.

He couldn't even made out the words at this point. They were too distorted, too confusing... It was as if Penny's voice had been put through a blender. The only thing that he could make out for certain was that she was calling out in concern. She was clearly worried about him; her tone gave this away easily.

Was she trying to keep him from going to sleep? Yes, that was possibly it. Rudy could not allow himself to fall asleep. His weakening mind, despite the lack of energy, knew this would be a bad thing. But... Ugh...he was just so tired... Could he really stay up for that much longer? Could he really handle going through with staying up? How long would he need to keep his eyes open for? How long until it was safe to go to sleep?

Rudy stared at his leg once more. This time, he could not feel himself entranced or panicked. He could barely make out the details of his leg. It was just sort of...there, like some kind of lost toy. He could feel his lips curling back into a slight smile and he released a bit of a chuckle.

He thought he could hear Penny gasp in horror at that, but for some reason, he didn't care. He just stared out at where his leg was and he lifted up his arm. Slowly he moved his arm out, attempting to reach for his leg, his arm trembling and shaky.

Then he took in a sharp, shuddering breath. He felt a sharp…sensation of some sort sweeping through his body. It startled him at first, but only just very slightly, like it were nothing more than a mere passing brush. He then felt a sharp pain in his skull. Quick yet stabbing, and it caused him to let out a small, subdued yelp, his body stiffening up. He thought he could hear Penny yell at him again about staying awake, but he… he just could not keep his eyes open any longer.

As he closed his eyes, he could feel a slightly burning sensation, as though someone had taken a lighter and put it on fire. Yet somehow, despite that, it still kind of felt...good. Almost relaxing in a way. This was immediately met with a few small tears emitting out of his eyes. He could feel the darkness around him growing stronger, and he could feel his mind start to shut down.

Heh...this must have been what it was like for Mint. This must be what he had gone through when he lost half his leg to Skrawl. This pain, this fear yet growing tranquility, the dizziness, the confusion... All of this is what Mint must have gone through or something similar. And now....it was his turn.

Rudy's body suddenly gave a shiver and just collapsed, going limp in Penny's arms. Her panicked voice just echoed and faded away in the distance. His already dark vision was going black as he lost the ability to see, and everything just because silent.

sss

Penny's eyes widened in horror as she watched Rudy collapse on the ground. She took in several deep breaths, trying to control her breathing. She could feel an icy cold sensation shooting through her, burning at her quivering fingertips. She could feel her heart racing so hard against her chest, ready to just explode. Her eyes stayed glued on Rudy's still form, hoping, praying that he could wake up.

But when Rudy did not move, when he showed no signs of waking up, Penny could feel her heart practically burst open inside of her chest. She laid her hand down on his shoulder and she gently shook him. Rudy's body moved with the movements of her hand, and yet he still did not stir.

He just laid there, like he was nothing more than a sack of potatoes or an oversized doll that she had just found. Rudy just...would not move. His head was turned to the side and his eyes remained shut. His mouth was partially open and it looked as if he was still breathing.

But that was not enough to comfort her. She needed him to be awake. The longer he remained like this, the more likely that he was just...never going to wake up. He had lost too much blood. His body was in too weak of a state. She had secured the tourniquet on him the best that she could, and it did appear as though the bleeding had stopped. But...had she been too late...?

Penny continued to stare at Rudy's unmoving face, silently pleading for him to wake up. Please...he had to be okay... He had to get up...please... But he just wasn't moving, and who knows how long he would be breathing for...

Penny tried to get that thought out of her mind. She tried to be more optimistic. Rudy would be okay. She had to believe that. He would soon wake up and everything would be fine. She just...had to give him time, that's all. That's all Rudy needed. A little bit of time. Then he'd open his eyes and it would be as if nothing at all had happened. She just had to keep believing that...

Penny flinched when she heard a loud scream of pain. She looked over and her gut twisted as she saw Mint pinned to the ground. Sandra had just pushed him down harder, to the point where his back had nearly suffered damage. Penny could feel a wash of burning, cold horror go through his body. She watched helplessly as Mint squirmed frantically underneath Sandra's weight, unable to do anything to get away.

Penny wanted to help. Oh gawd, how she wanted to help. She could not just leave Mint there... But she couldn't abandon Rudy, either. She looked down at his still, quiet form. Rudy was completely helpless here. He could do nothing to escape. If Sandra decided to come back for him...

Penny bit her lip. What was she going to do now? What should she decide on? Should she leave Rudy here with some sort of shield while she went to help Mint? Should she just sit here and pray that Mint can free himself? Should she wait for their backup to come out? They did still have Dr. Crobat, Taima, and Ripclaw. They could come over and assist Mint and...

But what if it still failed? What if they weren't able to stop the dragon? What if they...

Penny narrowed her eyes softly. She realized that a decision needed to be made and fast. She could not stand around and do nothing. Even if they had backup, she was still here and she could take action. And besides, what if something had happened to the others that they could not help? Would it really be all that fair to just..wait and hope that Mint would be fine?

No, it would not. She had the magic chalk. She could do something. And with that in mind, she reached into her pocket and pulled out a piece of magic chalk.

Penny paused for a moment. She realized that she didn’t know exactly what she should draw to help Mint. She gritted her teeth tightly, struggling to think of something that could be used. She needed something that could get him away from that situation while at the same time prevent Sandra from being able to complicate things.

She narrowed her eyes and she studied the area before her. She could feel her mind’s gears turning quickly, attempting to come up with a solution as quickly as she could. She needed to take action soon, before Rudy... She shook her head, struggling not to think about it. She got her magic chalk ready and, without much further hesitation, she began to draw.

She didn’t know how long it took her. Was it just a few seconds? Or was it longer? Either way, she was still rapidly filling the air with lines, just like she had before. But this time, with a completely different purpose. This time, she was a bit more focused, a bit more deliberate. She believed she had figured out exactly what she could do to stop Sandra. Or at the very least, delay her for a time so that Mint could get away.

This time, there wasn’t much guilt. She was not creating a living creature for this. She didn’t think that she could forgive herself if she ever did that. No, instead, she was going to create something to confuse the large, purple dragon. She knew that Sandra did not like being made a fool of, so they would have to leave as soon as possible. But hopefully, this would buy them at least a little bit of time. Hopefully...

Soon she had the device finished and ready to be used. She held it in her hands, staring at it intently. A small copter with a microphone on it and with the ability to camouflage itself. It was small and simple, and it surely could not defend itself against Sandra. But it did not need to; all it needed to do was just distract Sandra for a little bit. All she needed, all her friends needed, was just a few minutes at least. They could draw something to get away with and they could get out of here and...

But what about the rest of ChalkZone City?

Penny frowned softly, realizing that they all couldn’t just leave. She bit her lip, struggling to think of what could be done. She looked down at Rudy. He needed to be taken out of here. No ifs, ands, or buts about it. Perhaps if she found a way to get him back into the Real World, then she and Mint could remain behind and fight Sandra.

With this in the back of her mind, she turned to the helicopter and she began to twirl the wing blades around, attempting to get it to start spinning. It took only seconds for the blades to begin spinning at a very rapid rate, a whirring sound filling the air. Penny then moved her pointer finger towards where she could see the buttons. She pushed a couple of them, hearing them click. And then, she let go.

Penny watched as the small helicopter took off into the air. No longer in need of her input, it automatically shifted its color scheme. At first, it was a rainbow of colors flashing rapidly. Then it started to fade and dissipate, and soon the device disappeared completely.

Even if she could no longer see it, Penny could hear it whizzing away, heading directly towards Sandra. Penny hoped that this would be enough to distract Sandra. Keeping her grip good and tight on Rudy, holding his unconscious body against her as the helicopter went about its business, she watched to see just how things were going to play out.

Sandra was still focused on Mint. Her narrowed eyes glared at him intently. It seemed that Mint had said something to upset her. Or perhaps he had managed to throw dust at her face or something. Either way, the large dragon did not look very pleased with him, her teeth gritted and tail swishing about. She looked like she was ready to tear off his head or something, yet something was stopping her from doing so. Penny wasn’t sure why this was, but it did give the helicopter that she drew more time to get over there.

Sandra pulled her head back, snapping her jaws once. Then she kept them open, pulling her jaws apart and exposing her sharp teeth. Drool dripped down from the corners of her jaws. Her remaining yellow eye regarded Mint coldly, nearly giving off a glow. She tensed the muscles in her neck and then she started to move her head forward...

Then she froze, her body stiffening, at the sound of something shouting at her from the distance.

“You give a bad name to promise makers!”

At this, Sandra let out a low growl. She slowly turned her head from side to side. Her face was plastered with anger, but also a bit quizzical as well as she tried to find whoever had said that. (Who is there? Show yourself!)

“You know nothing about promises!”

Sandra let out a loud hiss at this. She clanged her jaws together a few times. She moved her head around, turning her massive neck in one direction. She stared out ahead, attempting to try to find the culprit. But no matter which way she looked, she could not find anyone.

There was obvious frustration in Sandra’s eyes and body language. A lot of tension and shaking, her teeth gnashing together, growls and hisses constantly emitting. She looked ready to just charge at whoever was saying that...and yet, as Penny realized, without an obvious target, it was hard for Sandra to decide when and how to attack. She had a hard time launching an attack on something that she could not see herself.

“You know that there is no honor in eating a friend!”

Sandra shook her massive head at this, her teeth glinting in the light of the Day Zone sun. (And you...whoever you are....have no idea what...)

“You destroy the purpose of promises!”

While Sandra was usually a calculating individual, the moment that her beliefs were challenged in a way, she seemed to lose her abillity to keep herself composed. Penny had seen this in how she reacted to Rudy’s reveal of breaking a promise years ago. And now she was seeing a similiar reaction in Sandra now.

All of a sudden, she just..looked so feral and vicious. She bared her teeth and growled. She looked like she was about to explode. She was huffing and puffing, her chest expanding and deflating rapidly. She snorted heavily, her tail whipping about wildly. No matter what she did or tried, she could not control herself. Then she soon opened her mouth and she released her fury in a single, loud, screeching roar.

“Screee!”

Then, seconds later, Sandra appeared to forget about Mint. Her mind was too preoccupied at the moment, emotions racing through her, momentarily taking away her ability to be rational. Mint was no longer a priority in her mind; finding the ‘filthy zoner who dare defile her beliefs’ took over from that. She raced off in one direction, her heavy footfalls pounding against the ground.

sss

Mint watched in utter shock as Sandra turned her attention away from him, focusing now on trying to find the location of...whatever voice that was. Her massive form disappeared further into the city, knocking over buildings as she tried to get at that voice. Mint licked his lips nervously. He hoped that there was no one in those places...

He then felt a jab of confusion. That voice... It didn’t sound quite normal. Something about it was off. He just...could not pinpoint exactly what it was. It was almost as if it were robotic, spoken through the tape, but..yet not. It was so confusing to try to explain.

But in the end, it did not sound like he would expect. ChalkZone City was filled with all sorts of people and different voices and looks and for him to think that this voice sounded...artificial, that was quite feat. He didn’t even know how he thought it sounded fake; it just did. Something about it just did not seem like the typical zoner voice.

Well, at least she was no longer holding him down. He could feel his fear wash a way a little, a sense of relief striking him. He struggled to get up to his feet, but his body wobbled from side to side. He could feel a bit of dizziness strike him and he had to hold onto his head. It seemed that the adrenaline that kicked in moments ago hadn’t exactly worn off yet; he could feel his body start to tremble hard.

He eventually managed to keep up on his feet at least. He had to use one of the rocky debris nearby to hold himself up. Other than that, he was...fine. Yes, he was fine.. He took in a few trembling breaths as he tried to control himself. In and out his breaths went, exhaling slowly. He turned his attention back to where Sandra had disappeared into.

She was still in view. She had gone several yards away, though the exact distance wasn’t really known. She was still visible from where he was due to her massive form. She had reared up onto her hind legs and started to strike out at whatever she thought she saw or heard.

Mint couldn’t help but flinch. He again wondered if any other zoners were getting hurt. While he appreciated the help of..whoever’s idea this was, he still wished that they hadn’t been so reckless. This could result in a lot more people getting hurt than actually being saved. He didn’t want to think of what might happen if...

“Mint!” He could hear Penny calling out to him. He turned his head over and he could see Penny waving at him. She was still knelt down beside Rudy. “Come on! Get over here while she’s distracted!”

Mint blinked a few times. While she was distracted... The way Penny had said that, it sounded almost as if...she was the one who... No, she couldn’t have been that reckless, right? No way that she would...

Mint’s mental voice trailed off upon looking down at Rudy. He took quick notice that he...wasn’t moving at all. Well he was still breathing, but it was so shallow. Then, upon further inspection, he could see that his eyes were closed. He was.... Oh no.. Mint took in a sharp intake of breath. Had Rudy fallen unconscious? But how...? He didn’t see...

Mint didn’t hesitate any further and he rushed over as quickly as he could. He wobbled and stumbled a little bit along the way. His mind had not yet fully recovered enough to be able to handle such sudden and quick movement. But he didn’t care; he just kept moving until he reached Penny’s side.

“What is it? What’s wrong with Rudy?” Mint called out, his head spinning as he stared down at his unconscious form. Mint could feel his body trembling at the sight of his friend in such a state. “Why is he...?”

“Sandra ripped off his leg.” Penny told him, her voice laced with anger and despair.

Mint could feel his heart twist painfully at this. “What...?” He whispered in disbelief. He shook his head slowly. “Th-That’s not...” Upon seeing Penny frown and point in one direction, Mint slowly, shakingly, turned his head. And he immediately froze in cold horror at what he saw.

There, laying on the ground, was Rudy’s leg. A part of his leg. Judging from the angle of the foot, it was his right one. It had been bitten off in the middle of his thigh, breaking right through the thick bone and blood vessels. The area was adorned with torn flesh and clothing and a few bits of shattered bone. Blood caked around the area, completing the rather gruesome picture.

Mint couldn’t tear his eyes away from this. He couldn’t stop his breathing from rapidly increasing. He couldn’t stop his heart feeling like it wanted to explode inside of his chest. There was nothing he could do to stop the horrific flashbacks from echoing inside of his skull. White flash after white flash, he could see himself on the ground, missing a part of his leg, blood spilling out onto the ground.

And now Rudy was the one who...

Oh no... Oh gawd, no...

Mint licked his lips slowly. “Wh-What do we do...?” He noticed that the bleeding appeared to have been slowed by what looked to be a tourniquet. But who knows if that would be good enough? “What do we...”

“We need to get Rudy out of here.” Penny said sternly. “We need to find some way to secure him and get him to safety.” She looked over at where Sandra was still rampaging. “Before Sandra sees right through my distraction and comes for..”

“Wait...” Mint cut her off, staring at Penny in utter shock. “That was you..?”

Penny looked at Mint, frozen for a few moments. Then, licking her lips ones, she nodded her head affirmitively. “I...had to get her away from you somehow...”

“Y-You...you really had...” Mint whispered softly.

“Mint, I didn’t have much of a choice. If I didn’t distract Sandra, she would have torn you apart!” Penny spoke, her voice taking on a pleading tone. She widened her eyes a little, and Mint could see the torrent of emotions rushing through. “Please...let’s just focus on getting Rudy to safety. You can yell at me all you want later.”

Mint was at a crossroads in his mind. A part of him just...didn’t know what to think. He didn’t know if he felt comfortable knowing that Penny had done that on purpose, that she really had caused such a dangerous distraction. Why couldn’t she have chosen a safer route? Weren’t there alternative options? Didn’t she realize just what she had done? Did she have no clue that she had just endangered so many zoners? Didn’t she...

Then again, did she really have a choice? Mint recalled that he was not in that good of a position before. He wouldn’t have been able to escape on his own. Penny had been fearing for him and they both knew Sandra would have killed him if she hadn’t distracted him. And that would have been one less creator...no, two, counting the fact that Rudy was unconscious.

In the end, perhaps the distraction was for the greater good. As much as it pains him, distracting Sandra like this, even if it potentially could hurt more zoners, was the best path to take. At least there were still two creators who could take her down, and Rudy could get to safety.

Mint breathed out slowly, feeling himself relax. “Y-Yeah.... You’re right..” He spoke softly. He still felt a little bitter about the whole thing, but in the end... Yeah, he knew that Penny was right. He glanced down at Rudy, biting his lip. “So..how do we get him out of here?”

Penny opened her mouth to speak. “I don’t...”

“Allow me to answer that.”

The two humans stiffened at that voice. A wave of emotion rushed through them and they could feel their guts twisting up. No, no him...anyone but him... Slowly, they turned their heads over, and they had to resist growling when they saw Bell standing there.

Mint narrowed his eyes into slits, growling softly. This bull zoner had some nerve showing his face to him. Especially after how he had treated Rudy. What the hell did he want, anyway?

..then again, he had helped them earlier, did he not? He did stop Sandra from attacking them, correct? Even if Mint didn’t really know if Bell had good intentions or not, he was still an ally against Sandra. And honestly, he’d much rather deal with him than deal with Sandra later on. Perhaps he and Penny should give the bull zoner a listen.

“Hello, Bell...” Mint began to speak, noticing that Penny was having a hard time thinking of a response. “What is this answer you speak of?”

Bell stood there for a couple of seconds. His face seemed to shift between uncertainty and something else that he couldn’t quite identify. Then the bull zoner took a small step forward, reaching his hooved hand out. “I will take the cripple to safety.”

Mint and Penny immediately tensed up, their eyes narrowing into slits. “You will do what...?”

“I will take the crip....” Bell stopped himself, widening his eyes briefly. He looked from Penny to Mint and he lowered his hand, placing his hand against his forehead and letting out a soft groan. “I mean... I will take Rudy to safety.”

Mint narrowed his eyes. He moved himself a little closer to Rudy, keeping his teeth clenched. Despite the fact that he did help them before, a part of him just...could not bring himself to fully trust Bell. The bull calling his friend a cripple again..and almost doing so a third time... That just didn’t feel right to him.

“Why should...” Mint started to say, but he never got a chance to finish.

A loud roar filled the air, echoing across the ground. He could feel the floor beneath his feet trembling as something big and heavy came their way. He could hear the sound of something metallic hitting the ground, a small explosion erupting it into flames. He and Penny looked over and they could see the remains of the small helicopter on the ground. Then a large purple foot stomped down upon it.

With a flash and blur of light beige coloration, an echoing of a loud scream, something else fell into the ground. This time, it was a bit of debris or part of a machine. It was Taima and two animal zoners, which were identified as Mosaic and Ripclaw. In a slow motion view that Mint thought he could detect, he could see Sandra ramming her nasal horn against them, causing them to fall into the ground, rolling away painfully. He thought he could hear a sickening crunch.

Then, as Mint slowly turned around, he could see that Sandra had come upon him, her mouth split wide open. It was as if she had connected the helicopter distraction to him. In a matter of seconds, the set of jaws had clamped around his body, blood pouring out, he was lifted up into the air, letting out a scream as Sandra began to violently shake him.

Mint stood there, stunned, unable to move for several seconds. A part of him had trouble believing that this really was happening. It had all occurred just way too fast. Then he managed to shake his head and he lifted up his piece of magic chalk and he rushed over to help.

“Hang on!” He shouted as he began to draw something.


	48. Showdown

On the wings of darkness, he’ll retaliate!  
-A Demon’s Fate, Within Temptation

sss

Seering, horrific pain swept through his body. The sharp teeth, large and wide, penetrated through his body. He could feel his own bones start to crack and give way under the pressure. He attempted to struggle and squirm, but nothing he did would break himself free. If anything, it only made the situation a lot worse. He seethed as he accidentally irritated his injuries even further, and he exhaled through his clenched teeth.

Bell wasn't fully aware of his surroundings at this point. All he could perceive was the thunderous pain in his body where Sandra's teeth had sunken in. He had a hard time even seeing anything; his vision had destabilized, causing him to only see blurred colorations. His mind was abuzz with several thoughts, but most of them were frozen, as thoug his brain could only really focus on the pain. He wriggled and he writhed instinctively, the only thing that he knew how to do in that moment.

He thought he could hear a scream. He thought he could hear someone calling out to him. Was someone shouting to him or to Sandra? Or was it in the distance? He couldn't really tell. He could barely turn his head over in the direction that it had come from. And the only thing that he thought he could see was a blur of brown and some kind of lighter color. He blinked slowly, as though that would clear up his vision. But it did nothing to help him see better. He attempted to focus on trying to clear his vision, shaking his head a bit. But there was absolutely no change.

As he was finally able to push at least some of the pain aside, he was able to think a little more clearly. He realized that he had been so foolish to approach the creators too quickly. He had been foolish to send the others over to distract Sandra. A part of him wondered if this is what caused Sandra to come back. Had he inadvertantly doomed them all by trying to be extra careful? He thought he was doing the right thing, but if Sandra noticed where they had come from and if one of them, like Ripclaw, acted to hastily... The bull zoner bit his lip firmly. He may have very well made things a lot worse.

And now there was a rampaging dragon zoner in the vicinity, making it a lot harder for anyone here to get away. And he himself was trapped in the jaws of the beast. He could feel the pain swirling through his body as he was swung from side to side. And there was nothing he could do free himself.

Perhaps this was a fitting end for him. He had been the one to conspire much of this in a way. Even if he didn't know things would have gone this bad this fast, even if he had no idea that Sandra would have escaped for real, he was still a major reason why everything began to go to hell. And all because he had wanted to give ChalkZone a better protector in the form of Skrawl...

He would admit it to anyone. He did not feel like he was entirely wrong with choosing Skrawl, even now. He did truly feel that Skrawl may have had ChalkZone's best interests at heart to some degree underneath his criminal persona. He believed that Skrawl mainly acted like that because he was ostracized in the past. He wanted to think that Skrawl would be at least a bit more fair if given the chance to get a higher position and treated better than he had been in the past.

Or was that merely just wishful thinking. He did recall that the jellybean still had a vicious temper at times, and he did not exactly have a good image in ChalkZone City, or nearing areas where he had attacked. Was Skrawl really the best choice, then? Could he have listened to criticisms earlier? Perhaps choosing someone more motionally stable, such as Rapsheeba, would have been the better call. Maybe then, he wouldn't have had Officer Polych hospitalized, or drove his former best friend away, Sarando, where he had ended up getting killed not long after he arrived in the city, looking for help. Sandra had apparently got him with her tail.

Bell could feel a sting in his chest at this, intermixing with the pain that was still dominating his mind. A part of him did feel a level of guilt. He had been so obsessed with protecting ChalkZone that he ended up losing one of the best friends he's had. And his attitudes towards the creators, most specifically the one in the wheelchair, Rudy, didn't help his case, either. If he had been concerned, why didn't he just...go and talk to them?

Heh, perhaps he deserved this after all. Perhaps this was truly karma coming to bite him in the ass. He had been just a bigot, so of course he deserved ripped apart by the very creature he had helped to escape. It was only fitting for a low life like him. At the very least, his death would bring some kind of closure to the citizens he had betrayed, right? Yeah, it would...

Suddenly he heard a loud, zipping sound, then a pluck against something thick and almost...wet? Then he could hear a thunderous screech from Sandra, and he could feel himself being dropped into the ground upon release. He let out a yelp of pain as he hit the floor, his shoulder smashing into the rock. He laid there for several moments, his mind echoing and body trembling from the pain. He soon forced himself to look up and over, and he could see what appeared to be a form looking down at him.

Was this Mint? It looked like him, but his vision was still a little eskewed and it was hard for him to tell for certain. He blinked his eyes slowly, continuing to stare up at whom he realized was his savior. Then he bit his lip and nearly growled. Was it really right of him to be saved at all? After what he has done...

Bell suddenly stiffened up as he felt some kind of rush through his body. A sharp sting manifested in his head and he could feel the world around him becoming dizzy. Then he fell completely limp, his mind going all but numb.

sss

“No! Come on! Get up!”

Mint knelt before the fallen zoner, ignoring the pain in his knees. He stared down, watching as the bull zoner breathed in and out shakenly. Miraculously, he had survived the attack....but he didn’t know for how long.

He bit his lip as he stared down at the injuries. He could see areas were blood leaked profusely, staining the ground. It didn’t look like he could last for much longer without some sort of help. But...how was he going to... He narrowed his eyes into slits. He was going to have to do something and fast. Otherwise, it would be the end for Bell.

A part of him still couldn’t believe that he was actually going to help him. Bell had been an ass before, and the one that was likely linked to Sandra escaping, if Penny’s earlier comment was anything to go by. But despite constantly reminding himself of this, he could not bring himself to leave him all abandoned and alone. That wouldn’t really be right, now would it?

Mint was about to draw something to have Bell transported to get help, but he was interrupted by a loud crash beside himself. He nearly jumped when he turned his head and was almost instantly blasted by dust and debris. He used his body to cover Bell for a few moments before he turned his head and he could see that there was a large, curving blade there, belonging to none other than Sandra.

Mint gulped as he looked up. He was a tad relieved when it seemed that Sandra was not actually attacking him. But that relief was short-lived when he could see the prone form of Mosaic. The crocodile-like zoner laid on her side, her mouth partially open. She was still alive, thankfully. But with all those deep bruises she got, it didn’t seem like she was going to be able to get up too quickly.

But rather than attack her, like Mint had expected, Sandra had turned her attention onto Taima. The stick figure zoner had been shouting at her, waving his hands about, doing what he could to keep her attention. Sandra had her mouth open, hissing loudly as though to answer his challenging call. Taima’s eyes had fear hidden in them, but his facial expression was one of courage.

Mint couldn’t help but note how confusing this all felt. Taima was the zoner who had led the lynching mob to Snap, wasn’t he? He was there, calling for death for his friend. And then later, he had abused Snap in jail in ways that he did not want to imagine. Mint licked his lips slowly, realizing that he still did not feel fully comfortable with the stick figure zoner, even if he had apologized.

Yet he still felt his heart twist when he barely dodged Sandra’s next attack. He flinched at how loud the jaws had clamped against each other, fangs clanging against fangs. Though Taima now stood a few feet away, it didn’t take long for Sandra to turn her massive head over, creeping along towards him while getting her jaws ready for another bite.

However, Sandra did not stay focused on him for too long. A loud squawk seemed to turn her attention elsewhere. Mint couldn’t tell at first, but he soon could see that Dr. Crobat had gotten onto Sandra’s tail and began to claw at it with his talons. How smart of a move this was....it was certainly debatable, but it did leave Sandra hissing and growling and snapping in his direction. And when she reached her massive head forward to bite, Dr. Crobat immediately jumped away, causing the massive zoner to bite her own tail.

“Aaaahhhhrrrg!” Sandra immediately released her tail, her jaws split wide open as her pained roar echoed across the land.

Taima took this chance to gain some distance from the massive purple dragon. He picked up what appeared to be a large, pointed stick, more specifically a stone shard from a crumbled building, and ran towards her. He pulled back his arm and threw it, targeting the already bloodied neck.

Sandra let out a loud yelp at this, her body stiffening. She looked down, turning her neck so that she could get a look at the device. It was pretty deep in her neck and it almost looked like it struck something more important. Sandra’s widening eyes appeared to indicate this. At least for a few seconds before she ripped it out of herself and turned her attention to Taima.

Taima gulped and started to back away. He did not get far; the fool had boxed himself into an area that was difficult to navigate through. He gave a nervous smile at Sandra while he reached around behind himself, trying to find something to save himself with.

Sandra, however, did not look amused. She moved in much closer to Taima, to the point where she could easily step on him. Yet she refrained from attacking. She really was taking her nice, sweet time with this, as though she wanted to see him panic and suffer. She pulled her head back, looking amost like a large, legged snake. She gave a quick, twisted smirk before she launched her head forward, her jaws opening wide.

....only to have her head knocked to the side by something exploding in her face. She shook her head frantically, some kind of paint-like substance covering her eyes. Mint blinked at this and turned his head in the direction the ‘attack’ had appeared to come from.

To his shock and relief, he could see that Penny had managed to draw a paint gun of some kind. It looked more like one of those water guns with the tank, only it was modified to, instead of having a water tank, a row of balls lined up in a row. A lot of small balls, and it was obvious they were mixed in with something, as the explosion against Sandra’s face couldn’t have been made by mere impact. It looked as if there was a little bit of chemical burning, though not life threatening.

Sandra wiped away at her head with her paw, trying to get all the stuff off of her face. She shook her head a few times and then she turned her attention to Penny. She let out a series of low growls as she made her way over towards her. One of the growls sounded like Sandra threatening Penny, but the girl did not let this deter her. She just lifted her paint gun up once more and shot another round, this one striking the front middle of her nasal horn.

Mint did give a light chuckle at this. The sight of Sandra being assaulted with paint was pretty amusing. But he did not laugh for long. He looked back down at Bell, realizing that he had been wasting time. He needed to get him to safety. The broken back that he suffered was not going to let him do much else from this point forward. He would need to get him to safety.

He had thought at first using Ripclaw, but she was too busy attempting to attack Sandra. She had been running around the massave dragon, biting at her leg, whatever she could. She was larger than all of them and could do the most physical damage on her own without need of magic chalk. To take her away from the battle would mean losing this advantage.

It was not an easy decision; he bit his lip as he felt his heart sting at the thought of anything happening to Ripclaw. He would much rather avoid doing anything to risk her life more than she already was, if it could be avoided.

He looked back down at Bell, frowning softly. That meant he was going to have to try something else. He could do what Penny did. Create a zoner to take him in. But would that...

Suddenly the corner of his vision filled with a white glow. The teenager slowly turned his head in this direction and he could see a blast of white heading straight towards him. He nearly jumped out of his skin and he immediately drew with his magic chalk. It was quick, sketchy, and hasty. But he was able to stop the flames from hitting him or Bell with the crudely made blockage that he made. The flames struck against it with a loud thud and shot in all directions in a whoosh sound, lasting for several seconds before finally stopping.

When it finally stopped, Mint looked up and he could see himself almost immediately stared at by the large, yellow eye that belonged to Sandra. He moved himself back, gritting his teeth at her. He never went too far, knowing that he would leave Bell unprotected if he did.

The two of them stared at one another for several moments, creating a thick air of tension between them. Low growls emitted, their eyes glazed both with emotion and of an unspoken challenge.

Then finally, the massive dragon decided to speak. (Why are you so protective of that bull? I can sense the uncomfortableness in you, my dear creator. Would you not rather see him taken out of your concern...? Or no?)

Mint gritted his teeth at this, growling loudly. “I may not like him all that much, but I’m not going to let him fall prey to you...” Mint narrowed his eyes deeply, his fingers aching as he formed a tight fist. “He does not deserve whatever it is you have planned for him.”

Sandra tilted her head to one side. (I’m glad you feel that way.) Mint was taken aback back this, unsure of what to think. Sandra caught on to his expression and chuckled. (Oh yes, it would have been boring if you did not try to fight, at least a little. And besides...) She stared down at the fallen form of the bull, licking her lips slowly. (It would make the reward taste much better, don’t you think?) She gave Mint a sideways glance.

The teenager recoiled at this, giving a snarl of disgust as his widened, slightly narrowed eyes glared at the dragon. “You’re not seriously going to...”

Sandra grinned at this. (Am I going to...what?) She asked with an obvious fake confusion tone. (Whatever do you mean?)

“Don’t play dumb with me...” Hissed Mint, shaking a fist.

(Oh I’m not. I really am curious.) Sandra bent her neck back, her head tilting upwards. (What did you think I was going to do? Eat him?)

Mint blinked in confusion. “That is what you were going to do...weren’t you?” The body language Sandra had exhibited before strongly indicated this. If Sandra was not actually going to eat Bell, then what was she going to do? He couldn’t think of anything that made sense.

(The idea of eating him sounds delightful. I’m sure he tastes good.) Mint narrowed his eyes at this. Sandra did not seem to notice. (But...) Her head swung to the side sharply, her teeth clenched in a grin. (I think I just figured out a much better idea. It will still involve eating, but it will not be me doing it.)

Mint took a small step back, his body tensing up. “And what are you...”

(Say creator...may I ask you a question...?)

Mint adopted a more defensive stance as Sandra began to move in closer. Each step shook the ground heavily. He wished one of the others would show up, but at the moment, they had been knocked aside by Sandra before she had gotten to him.

Sandra moved her head in closely, staring at him intently. (Did you ever ponder what the taste of zoner flesh is like...?)

Mint could feel his face pale and he struggled not to throw up. “Wh-What the fuck?!”

Sandra chuckled. (Don’t tell me you never tried it! It’s quite delicious!)

Mint swallowed hard, forcing himself to remain put rather than take a step back. It would be so easy to turn around and run off, yet something told him he had to stay put. Regardless of Sandra’s words, he had to remain here, just in case she tried to do anything to Bell. He couldn’t run; the only thing that he could do was stand there and hope that someone manages to stop Sandra before she could go through with this.

Sandra sneered at this show of bravery from him. What was this? Some kind of a joke to her? Of course it was... That’s what she always thinks of it. A joke, a game, whatever. All the same to her. Mint stared up at her, keeping his eyes locked onto hers. He didn’t know exactly how she was going to be able to force him to do anything, but he didn’t think that he wanted to find out.

Sandra moved in a little closer, her jaws partially open. Breath shot out from her mouth, hitting against the ground in a great gust. Mint could feel its warmth against his exposed skin, making him shudder. He nearly took a step back before stopping himself and continuing to face off against the dragon creature.

Sandra seemed to almost chuckle at his defiance. Mint narrowed his eyes further, raising up his magic chalk. Sandra did seem to hesitate at this, but not for long. With a single swipe of her paw, Mint was sent flying in one direction, rolling across the ground and landing in a heap not far away.

Mint’s body felt like it had been clobbered by some kind of giant baseball bat. He groaned as he rolled himself onto his stomach and attempted to get up. He hissed and he gritted his teeth tightly, placing his hand on his stomach and carefully rubbed it. He shook his head and he forced himself to look up at where Sandra was, seeing how she was glaring down at him, that maniacal grin on her face. He was about to use his magic chalk against Sandra until he realized that... He didn’t have it with him...

What? No... Oh no, please no... It has to be here somewhere. It has to be on him.. He still had the chalk before. He should still have it, right? Yes, he just needs to keep looking and...

But he couldn’t find anything. No matter where he looked, he just...could not find it anywhere. It was gone, as though it was never there. He kept patting hismelf around, trying to see if it got stuck in his shirt or something. But no luck. The magic chalk was gone, and so were any spares that he had.

He could see them. The bag was open. The pieces were there. But he could no longer get to them. Before he could even get over, suddenly Sandra’s heavy foot stomped onto the ground, causing it to quake. Sandra lowered her head towards him, moving in at a slow and steady rate. It took her only seconds to get within a foot of him, and even then she kept moving.

Mint attempted to get away. Before he could even get up to his feet, Sandra had pushed against him with her snout, pressing him into the ground firmly. Mint grunted and gritted his teeth before he grabbed onto her and tried to push her back. Sandra of course wouldn’t budge; she was just too big and heavy for him to try to push away, no matter how hard he tried.

(Why do you fight it? Why don’t you just try some?) Sandra cooed, licking her lips slowly. (I am sure you will love it if you attempt it. Come on. I’ll help you get a taste.)

Mint shook his head. “No! You disgusting creature! I would never...!” He was silenced when Sandra struck him with her head, causing him to sprawl across the ground painfully. He cried out several times before laying on the ground, feeling blood poor out of new wounds, his old ones being aggravated. He gripped his side and seethed as he looked up, glaring at the evil dragon zoner. “Y-You won’t m-m-make me...”

(Perhaps not... Or maybe I just need to find the right mode of ‘attack’. There are always ways of getting someone to do what another wants. It’s just a matter of finding the right...) Sandra positioned her large paws on either side of Mint, her S curved neck staring down at him, her teeth clenched in a grin. (..method.)

Mint could only bare his teeth at Sandra before she placed her foot against his body and push him harder into the ground. He glared up at her, trying to look brave. But the truth was, he was terrified. Just how was this monster going to force him to eat anyone...?

sss

Penny widened her eyes in horror when she looked over and saw that Mint was pinned to the ground. Sandra towered over him, grinning at him maniacally. Her tail swished from side to side, like a cat ready to pounce.

Mint was in trouble. She had to do something to help him out. She couldn’t just sit here. She had to do something to... But what was she going to do? She couldn’t get herself to move. She felt frozen in place, as though she were terrified that Sandra would attack Mint faster. It didn’t help that Rudy was with her. He was still unconscious and he was still so vulnerable.

She gritted her teeth, struggling to think of something that she could do. She couldn’t just stay her and allow this to happen... She had to do something...anything... If she didn’t try to stop Sandra...

But she could not leave Rudy, either. She couldn’t abandon her best friend. That would be cruel. He needed her right now. He needed her to help him remain safe. He could easily be attacked if she left his side. Even if Sandra was paying attention to Mint right now, if she took action, if Sandra did not go after Mint, then she would most certainly go after Rudy. And it would not take that long before her flames would roast his body and... She shuddered at the thought.

Still, she could not just stand around here, doing nothing. If she did that, then...how in the world was she going to be of any good to anyone? She could not allow her own fear take control over. She had to kick herself mentally and try to make herself take action. Even if she was scared of accidentally making things worse, she still had to at least try. That’s all she could do. Just...try.

She took out her piece of magic chalk. She stared at it for several moments, pondering just what she should draw. What could she make to help Mint out? What could she do to buy him time and stop Sandra from doing...whatever it is that she wants to do?

Oh, there was one thing that she could think of. It wasn’t exactly perfect or anything. But she could try to find a way to trip up Sandra. That would be enough to give Mint sometime to get himself over here. There was the fact that Bell was still on the ground, though... But she imagined that Sandra would forget all about him and come after them, especially when she finds out that she was the one to cause her to fall.

Using her magic chalk, Penny quickly began to draw, her wrists flicking about, filling the air with lines. In a matter of seconds, she was able to draw a gumball machine, similar to the one that Craniac 3 had wanted years ago. She put away her chalk and she fumbled with the opening. She grabbed onto a latch and lifted it up.

In seconds, the large balls spilled out. She had drawn them to be larger than regular gumballs. They rolled across the ground, skidding along. Sandra was so focused on Mint that she did not realize what was going on. At least, not until it was too late.

Sandra let out a cry of surprise when she took step only to hit her foot against one of these balls. She pulled herself back her body arching, as she began to slip on the ground. She struggled to keep herself standing, only to fall into the ground. Her chin slammed against the floor painfully, looking as though she had bit her own tongue. Sandral aid there for several moments, appearing to be dazed.

Penny quickly motioned to Mint. “Get over here! Hurry!”

Mint stared at her for a few seconds, his eyes widened in shock. Then, picking himself up, he began to race towards her as quickly as he could. It took him a few moments to get by her side. He panted heavily as he looked over at where Sandra was. The dragon zoner had recovered partially from the fall and was now glaring at their direction.

(You..bunch of insolant little idiots...) Sandra hissed. (Did you really think that was a smart idea...?)

Penny licked her lips slowly, trying to decide if that move really had been smart or not. At least she was able to get Mint to safety. But...what of Bell? So far, Sandra hadn’t really tried to go after him; her attention was focused solely on her and Mint. But they both knew that this could change at any given moment.

The two of them tensed up as Sandra made her way over. Her large feet pounded the ground, nearly knocking up against Bell’s unconscious form. The ground broke and dented, chunks of rock splintering and sending off in several directions. Her long, spiked tail whipped about slowly, scraping along the gorund a few times. Penny made sure that the magic chalk was within view, allowing Sandra to see that she was well armed. Not that it was going to stop her, but perhaps it would make her more hesitant.

Penny struggled to think of what she could do now. She was successful in her previous plan, which was getting Mint away from her. But now, she had to figure out what her next step was going to be. Should she try another distraction? Or should she attempt something else?

Perhaps it was time to attempt another strategy. They had already tried to distract her before, and she might be catching onto them right now. There had to be something else that they could do. But...what else was there? What other option was available to them? Penny really did not know. That seemed to be their best option, especially with her fire capabilities.

Hmm...but what if there was another option? What if there was something else that they could try? She struggled to think as quickly as possible, trying to figure out something that could benefit them. Something that could slow Sandra down. Something like...

But how was she kidding? Any plan that she could think of involved some form of distraction. There really was no other way. And if Sandra was onto it... The only thing left to do was just...fight her.

Penny bit her lip at this, feeling her heart skip a beat. She didn’t want that to be the only option left. They had already been fighting her with not much of a strong result. It would not work forever, and eventually Sandra was going to have had it and try something far more violent. Really, she was often close to just killing them with her fire. Penny did feel frustrated at this. But...their options really were limited.

Penny could speak no further when Sandra stood before them, glaring down at them with her serrated, sharp teeth exposed. Penny gulped and took a small step back. Mint attempted to move in front of her protectively, but he experienced a sharp pain in his leg and he nearly wobbled to one side. He hissed as he clutched his leg, and he tried to keep himself from falling down.

Sandra narrowed her eyes at this, her snout twisted up into a dark smile. She lifted up her front paw and she struck forward, striking at the two teenagers like they were just a couple of boxes that were in the way. The two of them were not able to get out of the way in time and they found themselves flying off in one direction.

Penny grunted as she hit the ground in a rather painful fashion. She hissed and clenched her teeth. She pushed herself up on her hands, shaking her head. She looked down frantically at her hand. She gave a sigh of relief when she saw that she still had her magic chalk. But when she looked behind her, she could see that Mint was nowhere to be found. She looked around, struggling to find him. And then she heard a cry and she looked up.

Her eyes bulged in horror when she saw that Mint had been snagged by one of Sandra’s large, front paws. He was lifted high into the air and Sandra was examining him like he was some kind of weird rock or whatever else that she had found laying about. She turned him this way and that, her eyes going over his struggling body. She did not seem to respond all that much to his screams.

Penny managed to climb back up onto her feet. She brushed herself off and she looked up to where Mint was. She watched in terror as he was continued to be handled roughly. She gritted her teeth and she looked down at the magic chalk. Regardless of the fact that distraction and fighting were their only options, she still forced herself to draw.

The process was almost painful. Drawing when you didn’t want to was not pleasant. She could feel a strange burning sensation in her arm and a riggidity that was there and yet not. Kind of confusing to really describe.

But despite that, she still managed to draw something. A rather crude-looking blaster. Not exactly the thing she would have wanted to draw and a part of her was shocked. But there was no time to waste. She put away her magic chalk quickly and she turned it towards Sandra. She grabbed onto the trigger and she started to pull.

Immediately a long electrical line of...some kind of power, shot towards the giant dragon. The volts struck against the massive creature, causing her to shriek loudly, her head pulling back and she ended up falling into the ground, spasming. Her massive form struck the floor, shattering much of what was underneath, causing the ground to quake.

Mint was tossed to the side as a result. Penny barely had any time to react before Mint collided with her. The two of them rolled across the ground painfully before landing in a heap. He groaned as he rubbed his head just like he had before. He turned to Penny and gave her a shaky smile.

“Hey...thanks.” He said softly.

Penny nodded her head. “No problem.” She frowned as she turned her attention back to Sandra. She gritted her teeth tightly. “She is not going to be down for long.”

Mint narrowed his eyes as he looked back at Sandra. There seemed to be a thousand thoughts going through his mind. Penny wasn’t sure if she could keep up with them all. “I think I have an idea...”

Penny looked up at him. “What is your idea?” She hoped that, whatever he had in mind, it was going to buy them time for the others to get up and help them.

Mint looked back at her. He seemed hesitant at first. He licked his lips slowly. Then he said, “...do you remember that time when... I had you guys come into the Impenetrable Forest? And lured you all into that trap...?”

Penny had to think for a moment. It had been several years and Mint had done so much when he was under Skrawl’s control, and so much more good after his reformation. It only took a few seconds before she realized what he was talkin about. Her eyes widened. “Yes. I remember that.”

She felt a moment of uneasiness. That day was not something that she liked to remember. She and Rudy had been so close to losing Snap. It caused her to feel a sharp pang regarding Mint. It reminded her of how much she used to...really not like him.

And she could tell it was not something that he liked to remember, either. It was the day that he had nearly killed Snap. He had gotten so close... Penny could still see it in her mind now. How he had Ripclaw hold onto Snap for him... How he had taunted them... How he had put the trigger to Snap and he had almost... Penny tried to shake the chilling thought from her mind the best that she could.

“Wh-What about that place...?” Penny forced herself to ask as she tried to keep herself under control. “What did you have in mind...?”

Mint bit his lip for a moment. It looked as if he was remembering something uncomfortable. Slowly, he forced himself to reply with, “Do you remember the tar bit thing? That I had you and Rudy trapped in?”

Penny nodded her head slowly. “Yes..I remember that...” She paused for a moment before tilting her head to one side. She narrowed her eyes in curiosity. “What about it?”

“I think that may help us here...”

sss

Mint really had no idea if this was going to work or not. But he knew that...they just had to try. There really was no other option, was there? They had to give this a shot and hope for the best. Maybe if they did it all correctly, they may be able to trick Sandra and get her to fall for their trap.

He picked up one of the pieces of chalk that had been laying around. He was glad that Sandra was so distracted with trying to deal with him and that...disgusting act that she was going to force him to do. This enabled him to get back chalk quickly, and with him and Penny both having a piece, they immediately had gone to work.

It didn’t really take long for them to create the large tar pit. It was quicker than he had imagined it would be. Perhaps it was because they were working together on this. Perhaps it was because they were in a hurry and they were moving as quickly as they could. Either way, it was done. A large section of the ground was now a tar pit. Thick, sticky black goo that would surely keep Sandra from moving about too much.

But it wasn’t going to be enough. They were going to need to go a little further. Sandra would likely see this and avoid it. They had to disguise it somehow. Luckily, that was an easy solution as well. All they really had to do was draw something over it. Some kind of thin sheet made to look like dented ground, but it was really just covering the tar pit. This should be enough to fool Sandra. In her rage, she wouldn’t really notice anything odd about this ground, now would she?

Mint wasn’t sure what they would do after she was caught. At the very least, they were going to be quite relieved. It would give them much more time to think of how to handle her. They would be safe for the time being.

..except not. He realized they would have to do something about her fire breath. They couldn’t allow her to shoot the flames at them, now could they? He would need to think about that. But first, they had to set this plan into motion and get Sandra in here. Otherwise, they wouldn’t be move forward.

It didn’t take much longer before Sandra got up. She shook her body, the bits of debris spreading everywhere. She took a small step forward, letting out a series of low growls. She shook her head slowly, as though still trying to recover. And then she looked directly at them. She opened her jaws a little and growled viciously, her sharp teeth exposed. She began to make her way over towards them, somehow looking even more pissed off than before.

Mint and Penny stood next to each other, glaring back at the dragon. They were relieved that Sandra did not seem to try to head towards Bell or Rudy, or any of the others who were still fallen. But that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t be in danger soon. They were going to have to be on their toes and act quickly, before something could happen. If they didn’t.... Mint tried not to think of what could happen.

Sandra was getting even closer, step by step. She didn’t seem to notice anything strange about the ground. She was just looking right at them, her tail moving around, wriggling like some kind of wild serpent. She was starting to look...much less sane than she ever did before. It was as though a part of her mind had been torn, leaving her with less of an ability to think rationally. It was as though, at the moment, she could only get herself to move forward, fully intent on attacking them, even if she did not really have much of a plan for that.

A temporary state, of course. Mint was certain of that. The only reason she was like this was because she was pissed off at the fact that they were able to knock her down at all. She was not exactly as unstoppable as she would have liked, and it was showing in how she was starting to behave.

How long would this last? Mint didn’t know. He just knew that they needed to take advantage of this, and hope that she didn’t notice the....

Suddenly there was a loud screech. Mint brought his hands to his ears, startled by this. He looked over and he could see Penny covering her ears as well, gritting her teeth tightly, seething. She flung her head from side to side, as though the sound was even more piercing in her ears.

But it wasn’t coming from Sandra.

Mint felt a wave of confusion hit him as he looked up and he saw that Sandra was also reacting to the sound. It was obvious she was not the one making the noise. The expression on her face strongly hinted that she was more confused than anything. She was looking around, attempting to find the sound as well.

Then there was a flash of green and something collided with her. Sandra released a loud scream of pain, her jaws split almost to the maximum, as Ripclaw jumped upon her. The dinosaur’s sharp claws dug against her shoulder, blood dripping down to the ground. The massive dragon struggled about, trying to fling the dinosaur off of her back.

Mint watched this in horror. He breathed in quickly, his ribcage rising and falling at an increasingly uneven rate. He shook his head in denial, not wanting to believe that this was happening. Not that he didn’t appreciate Ripclaw helping them, but of all the times...

He wanted to shout at her to release Sandra, but that would seem way too strange. Sandra would know something was up if he called her back. Yet he didn’t know if he could just stand here and do nothing. What if Ripclaw was injured? He wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if that happened.

He and Penny watched, completely stunned and unable to move, as Ripclaw bit into the dragon’s thick neck, causing blood to flow rapidly. Sandra pulled her head back and let out a loud screech before turning her head and attempting to bite at her, her jaws snapping wildly. It was a spectacle that the two of them could not look away from, no matter how hard they tried. The dragon moved along the ground in jerky, swift, and unstable motions, somehow managing to stay on her feet while Ripclaw still tore into her, ripping into her skin.

But soon it wasn’t just Ripclaw fighting. Mint and Penny exchanged horrified and worried glances to each other when they saw that Mosaic, Taima, and Dr. Crobat had all joined in, having finally recovered. This caused a wave of mixed emotion among the two friends. On the one hand, they were glad that they were up now. But on the other, of all the times....

Mint couldn’t bring himself to speak during this whole sequence. He couldn’t think of what to say. All he could do was just...stare as Sandra swung her head about, hissing and growling and snapping. He could only watch as their plans were foiled by their own allies. They had been trying to help, but little did they know that they were actually making things a lot worse. So much worse...

“G-Guys...!” Penny shouted. It was the only thing either of them could say. None of them could get themselves to say anything else and they fell back into a stunned silence.

Just then, with a mighty flick of her head, Sandra was finally able to get Ripclaw off of her. Mint watched in horror as the green dinosaur was tossed through the air, her massive body heading straight towards the ground. But what made things worse was....

...she smashed through the trap they had intended for Sandra...

There was an immediate freeze when this had happened. No one spoke a word as there was a cracking sound and a splat, and Ripclaw was in the tar pit itself. The black goop covered her body in several spots, getting even filthier the more that she struggled. The dinosaur kicked her legs and jerked her head about as she tried to get herself out of the trap. She only ended up making herself more stuck.

Taima, Dr. Crobat, and Mosaic all looked at this with equally shocked expressions on their faces. They all seemed to freeze where they were, unable to move, unable to do anything except just stare, as though their eyes were drawn to what was going on. There was nothing they could do to move; they could only look on in absolute shock.

Sandra was staring at this as well, with a similar look spread along her dragon-like face. She watched as Ripclaw continued to struggle in the tar pit, getting herself further coated with the black stuff. Then, slowly, she gritted her teeth and she looked back at where Mint and Penny were. She narrowed her eyes slowly, hissing softly. There was a flash in her eyes that told them immediately what she was thinking.

Mint could feel a bit of anger swirling inside of his stomach. Why did the others have to be so hasty? Why couldn’t they just hold still? Why couldn’t they just let him and Penny handle this? Why did they have to get in the way?

But then...it wasn’t their fault. How could they have known about this? There was just no way that they could have pieced together what he and Penny had been trying to do. He couldn’t blame them for not realizing it. Instead of being mad at them, he should be focusing on...

His train of thought was interrupted when Sandra suddenly began to shake her body about. She swung herself from left to right in a rather violent fashion. The shouts from the others filled the air as they struggled to hang onto the dragon beast. But though they were determined, it was clear that Sandra was even more determined. She succeeded a short time later in knocking them all off, sending them flying into the tar pit where Ripclaw was.

Mint and Penny flinched at the sight of this, biting their lip. They watched as they all squirmed about in the tar. They could hear their shouts filling the air. They could hear them screaming and squirming. They could hear them trying to get themselves free. But no matter what they attempted, nothing appeared to work. They were only making their situation even worse. Especially when Taima ended up going under the tar... At least Dr. Crobat could get him up, but how long was their luck going to last?

The two teenagers were at a crossroads. They wanted to answer their allies’ screams for help. They wanted to do something to help them. But at the moment, they had a little problem of their own. Their allies’ voices became nothing more than background noise compared to the low, vicious growling of Sandra as she started to make her way over towards them.

(So....is this part of your little game? Is this really the best that you all could do...?) Sandra stood a few feet in front of the two humans. She arched her neck down slightly, staring at them with a hardened expression (You dare try to fool me again? And with such a pitiful trap?) She glanced down at the tar pit, gazing at it only for a second before turning back to them. (I am insulted. I would have thought that you would do much better than that...)

Mint gritted his teeth at this. He wasn’t sure how he was going to respond to that. He didn’t know what to say or do. Sandra looked like she would attack at any moment. Was there even time for an attack?

He could hear the others shouting at Sandra. He flinched at some of the things they were saying. They were clearly trying to make her come over at them. Deliberate statements to try to get underneath her skin.

“Hey Sandra! Promises stink!”

“Come over here, you coward!”

“Do you really think you will win this? You’re even more pathetic than I thought!”

“Why don’t you go back to your original form and fight me one on one?!”

“You have no idea what constitutes a good promise, do you?”

Certainly not the type of sentences he would have expected to hear from them. Especially not now... But given their situation, it wasn’t like he could blame them for saying such things. Yet at the same time, was it really was for them to say these things while they were trapped in the tar? If he remembered right, tar was flammable, and with them all trapped in there... He gulped.

But surprisingly, Sandra did not really seem all that interested. She just...focused on him and Penny, her remaining eye burning brightly. Her mouth opened up partially, exposing razor sharp teeth more clearly. Her jaws slowly opened up even further, and Mint eventually noticed that her lips were curling upwards into a twisted smile.

(You keep trying to make a fool out of me. You keep trying to trip me up. You think that you are going to force me to fall.) Sandra chuckled, her whole body shaking. It was clear that it wasn’t just from laughter; the very swirling emotions in her mind were making it even worse. She lifted her head up and tilted it to the side, grinning broadly. (We will see about that.)

Mint realized, in horror, that Sandra had been holding it in this whole time. She must have been trying to keep herself under control. But over time, as they continued to fight, as they continued to trip her up, she got more and more infuriated. And now it was to the point where she was just not able to control herself any further. And now her raw emotions were starting to spring forth and there was absolutely nothing that they could do to stop her.

Before any of them could react, Sandra had already made a move. With her long tail raising up, she struck forward as hard as she could. There was a loud shiiing sound and a thunk. A split second later, a feminine scream was released.

“Penny!” Dr. Crobat screamed.

“Oh no!” Taima called out. He tried to get himself out, only to cover his arms with more sticky tar, making it harder for him to move. “G-Get away!” Ripclaw and Mosaic screeched their agreement.

Mint could not bring himself to say anything. All he could do was just stare in horror as Penny was flung across the ground, landing close to where Rudy’s unconscious form still was. He could see the trail of blood and his own blood ran cold like a sheet of ice. He could feel his body trembling, his mind racing as he realized what had happened. He forced himself to look over, and he almost immediately got a confirmation: blood stains on Sandra’s twin spike blades.

Several white flashes went through his mind as he stared at this in utter horror, breathing in and out quickly. He recalled when this had happened to Penny before. How Sandra had struck her with her tail spikes before and tore into her. And now she had done it again...

It took Mint several moments before he could unfreeze himself. Even when he did, his running was wonky and he could feel himself wobbling from side to side. But despite that he still managed to make himself keep moving forward. He panted heavily, his feet pounding against the ground. No... He had to stop Sandra. He had to stop her, before she...

Suddenly he felt the tail strike against him as well. The thick mass of muscle and skin and bone rammed against his stomach, knocking the air out of him. He crashed into the ground, remaining there while he struggled to catch his breath. He gripped his neck as he looked over at where Penny was.

“P-Penny...” He struggled to speak. He paused for a moment, flinching, swallowing hard. Then he added in, “P-P-Please...r-r-run...”

That was all he could say before he collapsed into the ground, still having a difficult time breathing. He forced one of his eyes to remain opened and he watched helplessly as Sandra continued towards the fallen Penny. Even the insults of the others weren’t enough to stop her this time.

sss

He had to admit, he had no idea that this was going to work out so well. The pieces had fallen into perfect place. Things were running smoothly. Nothing seemed like it could go wrong. Just as long as everything continued to run this well...

Well, something could still go wrong in a second. He had learned this the hard way. Everything could change in a heartbeat, and he had to be prepared for it. He did have some backup plans just in case. He had at least three spare that were ready to go in case this one failed. That is the thing about isolation; you have plenty of time to think of different things. It hadn't happened right away of course. But through persistance...

And fooling Sandra had gone on perfectly. The large dragon zoner had no idea that she had been had, that she had been the one used. True, it was she causing the destruction now, something that he himself had not intended. But if it meant tearing off that ugly smile from her face, it was more than worth it. Sandra was not well liked at all by anyone, and he doubted anyone would be too upset to see her locked away. They would still be upset by what happened with the city and the injured zoners of course, but they would be ecstatic to see Sandra behind bars again. And what better way to do that than get inside her mind?

He had known what her plan was for a little while. He couldn't exactly remember when he pieced it together. He believed it was during the next conversation with her after she had 'toyed' with him. He shuddered at the memory of that horrific act, but it did lead to Sandra being more willing to tell him more information, likely because she thought that her doing that to him would result in him being more subordinate to her.

And he played her expectations up like a toy himself. After a while, anyway. He still had some genuine fear of her and he still felt nervous around her. But after he was able to regain control over himself, he was able to stage some fearful moments to make Sandra more willing to trust him. He had toyed with her mind a little, making her feel like she was of a higher authority, allowing her to do with him as she would. He imagined his performance would fool even himself if he were to watch. Even his own thought processes had to be altered so he still thought like he was a victim, when it was Sandra who was being manipulated.

Was it underhanded? Perhaps; he would not lie about the shadiness of the whole thing. Then again, Sandra had done the same thing to others. She had shown that she was not afraid to scoop things under the rug, as it were, to get where she wants to be. She had shown callous disregard for so many people. He imagined that a lot of them would want to put her out of their misery.

He had to wonder what Rudy and the others would think of him now. Would they still see him as the same zoner as before? Would they view him as someone worse? He realized that his involvement in a sneaky plan revolving around Sandra could confuse them, or make them wary. It would show to them just how manipulative he himself could be, though they were already aware that he was a little bit of a sneaky bitch. This is something Rudy himself especially knows. After all, he did get him to draw something that he really wanted, but in the end, more or less told him that it 'was not good enough'. He had to wonder if Rudy still felt some annoyance wit that.

Oh well, at least Sandra was eventually going to get what was coming to her. She thought that she could get away with making a fool out of him. She thought that she could treat him like garbage and break his spirits and be able to 'tame' him. Well, she was wrong about that. Oh so wrong... And soon, she was going to learn just how wrong she was.

He could not act just yet, however. He needed to wait until the right moment. True, allowing Sandra to go around destroying parts of the city was not part of his plan, and he would like to stop her sooner, his very core itching to do that. But...no, he had to wait. That was his safest bet. If he acted too soon, Sandra's mind might reject him. He had to ease his way through here, this white-filled void of no gravity or sustenance, gradually making his way to central control. It was hard enough to get Sandra to think that he was too feeble-minded to try to fight back, which was why he was absorbed at all. If he were kicked out too soon, when would he ever get a chance like this again? He had to take this one chance that he had and work his way through. He could not allow himself to mess up.

But when would the best time be? He hadn't exactly planned that out well enough. But, if he kept on waiting and watching, surely a point in time would present itself. Surely there would be a moment when he could take action, and have a little 'fun' with Sandra himself. As dark as it would sound to people, he kind of looked forward to the chance when he would get to do a little mind fucking with her himself. A little payback was indeed warranted, right?

So he hoped that Sandra was ready for what was about to come. She had been such a manipulative master up until this point. He had to wonder what would happen when it was revealed that she was fully outsmarted. He wondered what would happen when she realizes that she had been had. It would be so much fun to watch her fall.

But first, he had to wait for that right moment. He had to keep himself steady and keep moving himself forward through this mind. He had to get ready and wait, otherwise he could just screw things over. If he just...

Wait, what is this? What was going on?

Through Sandra's eyes, the vision that was brought forth into his head, he could see that she had spotted something. She had her eyes fully focused on what appeared to be an injured person. He quickly recognized it as Penny. There was some blood coming down a deep gash across her chest, and laying not far was Rudy, who was unconscious himself.

The only one standing and fighting was Mint. He had drawn some kind of spear shooting weapon and was attacking what he thought was Sandra's neck. The massive dragon was ignoring him, however. Her eyes were fully focused on Penny, and judging from the look on Penny's face, she was fully determined to kill her. The girl had no magic chalk, either, so that meant that she was at the full mercy of the dragon zoner before her. All it would take is one strike and...

He narrowed his eyes in determination. Now was a good time to strike. While Sandra was fully focused on killing, too locked in her feral mode... That left her vulnerable. That left him room to take over. Now was the time for him to move his plans forward, and start to unravel Sandra's plans from the inside out.

And with that, he sprung forward.

sss

(Hehehe...isn’t this familiar...?) Sandra cooed as she came closer to Penny’s fallen form. The girl looked up at her in fear, her body trembling. (A very similar situation. Of course, this time, there’ll be nothing to stop me...and no one to save you...)

Sandra was struggling so hard to keep herself under control. She could feel her mind swirling about, a dull ache echoing everywhere. She could feel the emotions attempting to overflow, burn through her, take control, whatever. But no, she could not allow it to get the best of her. She had to keep herself under control. She reminded herself that she had a chance for revenge, and here it laid before her.

Penny’s squirming body was such a tempting target. It was so amusing the way that the girl tried to get away, despite her injuries. Her blade had sliced in deeply. There was little way that she could flee from her. Not like that. Oh she could try, but the gash went along her ribs, and with each breath, she could see her flinching. It was a definite sign that she would be hindered if she tried to run, and that’s not including her other injuries.

Sandra still felt enraged about the whole thing. She could still feel her mind burning as she recalled how these guys had made utter fools out of her. She recalled how they managed to make her look like an idiot. This realization boiled her blood, nearly evaporating it. She could feel herself trembling uncontrollably even as she tried to keep herself from going too far too fast.

These fools...these promise breakers....these monsters...they all had tried to stop her. They had worked together and held their own against her. They had tricked her and messed with her. They had tripped her up and they outsmarted her. Then they had the gall to try to outsmart her yet again and trick her into that tar pit. If it weren’t for Ripclaw’s stupidity, she would have done so.

But now it was her who was starting to have the upperhand. Most of the others were trapped. How amusing... They weren’t up for more than a few minutes and they already got themselves trapped yet again. How in the world did she see them as potential danger, again?

She had the opportunity, now, to get a little payback. She did not appreciate being made a fool out of. Diverting her attention only to make an unexpected move... It was smart, she’d give them that. But quite underhanded. She did not have any intention of letting that go unpunished. She could humor it instead...but no, punishment was a better alternative. After all, she needed to remind them all that she still meant business.

And with that in mind, Sandra began to move closer to Penny. She did not pay much attention to Rudy. Oh true, he offered opportunities, but it wasn’t like Rudy was going anywhere. She could deal with him later. Right now, it was Penny’s turn to have a little bit of ‘fun’.

Sandra raised her paw up, positioning it over Penny. She watched as the girl started to plead with her, squirming about on the ground. She smirked twistedly as Penny tried to get up, only to be in too much pain and fall back down. Oh dear little Penny, how amusing she was... Thinking that she actually stood a chance against her. That was going to make this all the more enjoyable.

(Hold still now.. This will only hurt for a few seconds..) Sandra spoke, her breathe seething rapidly between her gritted teeth. (And then you won’t even feel a thing!)

“W-Wait! Please...!” Penny attempted to plead.

Sandra ignored her and she struck down....

...only to suddenly freeze. Her eyes bulged wide open and she could feel something sharp spreading throughout her mind. She remained where she stood, partially limp, if that made any sense. Then, as her breathing continued out of exhaustion that came from nowhere, Sandra pulled her head back and let out a sudden, and terrified, roar.


	49. Out Of Nowhere

You are a chain reaction that never gets old!  
-Just Gold, MandoPony

sss

Sandra threw her head back and released another roar. She could feel her heart racing against her chest, threatening to burst through. She struggled to keep control of herself. She tried to force herself to relax. She fought and struggled against herself. She could feel her legs wobbling, threatening to give way and make her fall down. How she even managed to stay up this long, she had no idea.

She was only partially aware of the brats and their stupid allies watching her. She was only a little aware of the fact that they were staring at her as though she were purposely putting on a spectacle. She could very faintly hear confused comments from them.

But she hardly paid any attention to that. She was focused entirely on trying to control herself. She had no idea what was going on. She was not in pain exactly. But it just felt as though she were losing control over herself. She whipped her head from side to side as she fought the best that she could against this. She just...could not fully understand why this was happening, or why it happened so suddenly. It was as though someone had suddenly seized her and...

She suddenly found that she could no longer move at all. Her body was frozen in this present position, one leg raised up and her tail curved. She had her wings partially spread out, hoping to begin flying. Yet she could not take off. Even the act of closing her mouth or moving her eyes became impossible. She had become a living statue.

She could feel her mind exploding in horror at this. She could feel her heart pounding even faster against her stiffened body. She could feel a rush of adrenaline go through, swirling around inside and burning up her internal guts. For the first time since she had gotten this form, she felt...terrified.

She was so stiff and she thought she felt so hard... Would she end up breaking if she were to be toppled over? Such a thing was unlikely to happen, given her weight. But she could not help but fear something like that happening. For some reason, she just felt so light even though this was not truly the case.

What the hell was going on here? Why was she unable to move? Why couldn’t she do anything? Why was she...

“Having trouble, I see.”

Sandra immediately stiffened at this. She would have looked around if she could. She did not notice any reaction from the others, from what she was allowed to see. This only added to her confusion, causing a frustrated sensation to sweep through her body.

(Who is there?) Sandra called out. She ignored the confused comments from the humans and zoners before her. (Tell me where you are! And come over here and fast me!)

“Oh come now, you really hadn’t figured it out yet?” The voie called out to her. There was a bit of cold laughter that followed that. Then they continued, “I would have thought that someone like you could easily have gotten wind of what was going on.”

Sandra clenched her teeth tightly at this, hissing. She could not figure out just who that voice belonged to. It was too distorted and almost faint, despite feeling loud in her head. It was difficult to describe. But regardless, the voice was pissing her off, and she struggled to turn her head to see where it was coming from. The fact that she still could not move only fueld her rage and anxiety about the whole thing.

She noticed how confused her enemies were. They likely could not hear the voice. It must be only broadcasting to her. Someone projecting their statements into her instead of facing her up front. She could feel her head burning and swimming at this realization of cowardice. They should at least have the guts to come up to her and face her.

Then again, she was not much better. Using a giant form to attack everyone... Using something that they could not possibly fight against... And even in her original form, she was not much better.

But eh, oh well. At least she had some kind of goal for the betterment of this world. At least she had an excuse to lean against for any atrocities she had or could commit. At least she had....something, unlike this coward. The one who chose to sit out this fight instead of going up to her and having the courage to look at her in the eyes.

Well if that’s the way they want to play it... If she could just get herself free, she could find them. It would really be so easy. She just had to discern where their distorted voice was coming from. Difficult with mental voices, but not entirely impossible. And once she found them, she would give them a nice little ‘present’. And then she would, of course, go straight back to doing what she had planned for this damned city.

(For the last time, you fucker! Show yourself! Or do I have to tear this place apart to find you?!)

The voice laughed in response. “You? Tear me apart? You can’t even move! How in the world are you going to find me?”

Sandra released a small growl at this. (I will find a way...)

“Oh really now? Hehhehe...I beg to differ. You don’t know how close or far away I am. You don’t know how I am even communicating with you...” The voice stopped for a moment, as if to ponder what to say next. “Though even if I did tell you...you could not do a damn thing to me.”

Sandra hissed, (Don’t underestimate me, you bastard!)

“Oh no... It is you who are overestimating yourself...” The voice replied in a nonchalant way. “Oh if only you knew what was going on... Maybe then, you would not have underestimated...me.”

Sandra would have gritted her teeth at this if she could. She could feel a bout of confusion spreading throughout her body as she tried to make sense of this. The only thing that she could get from this was...whoever this was, they were someone that she had met before.

..this did not narrow things down all that much. She knew a number of zoners here. Though most of them no so personally, of course. But still, there were several zoners that she ran into, many zoners who knew her name... And she could not forget the fact that there were likely many zoners from her original home that would like to tear her a new one, ones that she thought that she’d never have to worry about again.

But first...how was she going to get herself out of his mess? She had no idea how she was even going to free herself. Not while she was unable to move. If this sick bastard had anything to do with it, then she was going to be at their mercy until they decide to free her. Oh of course...

Still, there had to be some way that she could free herself. There had to be something that could be done in order to force this guy to let her go. If physical force did not work, and clearly wasn’t even an option to begin with, then perhaps she should try another approach. One that she felt would get their attention. If they were up for the challenge, that is.

(Heheh...you only keep me here so that you can attack me without me being able to do a thing about it...) Sandra did not get a response from the voice that time. Not that she cared. She knew they were still there, watching her with those arrogant-filled eyes of theirs. (You think you are so tough, don’t you? Keeping me still while you prepare your attack... I can see right through you. How about you decide to show your face to me? How about you release me and we fight mono y mono? We can see who is the stronger one that way.)

The bait was set into play. Now all she had to do was wait and see if it had any sort of affect. Was it going to be enough to entice her captor to release her and fight her in a ‘fair battle’? Or were they just going to laugh the whole thing off and mock her on how they had no reason to release her if it meant it gave them a chance at victory.

At first, there was no response, making her burn up inside. Now they had the gall to keep silent? Why this cowardly little...

“You really think that will prove your point?”

The voice out of nowhere nearly made her jump...or at least, it would have if she were able to move. She didn’t know how long she had been frozen. It was starting to feel like a lifetime. Without the ability to nod, she replied back, trying to be as loud and clear as possible.

(And do you think messing around with me like this, without showing your face, makes you some kind of courageous little fuck?!) Sandra might have been annoyed with these idiots trying to stop her. But at least they had the guts to show their faces to her. This disembodied voice on the other hand... (What do you plan on doing? Starving me to death?!)

“That is a thought...” Sandra felt her heart skip a beat this, though she managed to keep herself from reacting too strongly in fear. She kept herself as mentally rigid as she could as she waited for the voice to continue. “Though of course, that wouldn’t be so entertaining to watch. I would much rather see you fall by your own hands.”

Her? Fall by her own hands? Now there was a rather rich statement. She amused herself with thoughts of just how this disbembodied voice thought she was going to do that. Like hell she would allow herself to fall by one of her own previous actions. She had chosen them carefully, too. There was little that she did that could be turned against her so easily, not to the point of ‘falling by her own hands’.

But she was not going to underestimate this individual. If they cleam this is something they actually see happening, then perhaps she should take it at least a little seriously. She would be able to prevent herself from being taken off guard, if that is what this voice had been hoping for.

(Well...why don’t we see who is correct?) Sandra asked, trying to sound like she was smirking, since the expression was presently impossible for her to do. (Release me, then face me. We shall find out who dominates at the top and who will be left to fall.)

“Are you sure about this?” The voice asked. There was a genuine curious tone to their voice as they asked this, as though making doublely sure that they want to go through with it. “I don’t want you to make this decision unless you are absolutely certain you want to go through with it.”

(And why wouldn’t I?) Sandra chortled mentally. (I’d love to get a chance to prove you wrong.)

The voice made a sound that was...the best way to describe it was a shrug, even though she could not actually see anything happening. “Well..like I said, you will find it difficult to actually fight me. I am still amazed that you still have yet to figure out who I am. Shouldn’t it be rather obvious?”

Sandra hissed at this. She was getting a little sick of this running around. The voice acted as though she should know who they were, even though they weren’t showing their face and their voice appeared to be disguisted. How the hell was she supposed to know who the fuck this coward was? If they weren’t so much of a wuss and if they actually showed their faces or at the very least, leave their voices unaltered...

(Just fucking show yourself, you coward!)

There was a moment of silence after this. Even her enemies, whom she had stopped paying attention to several minutes ago, had gone silence at this shouting. She did not care of course. She just remained there for several moments, waiting for this person who have the guts to at least show their face to her. She waited for them to let her go so they could actually fight.

But they were remaining silent, as though to drive her crazy. If that was their plan, they were succeeding at it. Without her being able to move, it was so easy to get worked up, so easy to lose her mind... It was getting more and more difficult to keep herself silent, to keep herself from going insane. Indeed, it was taking quite a bit of energy to do that.

Yet she succeeded, and she waited patiently in the thick silence of the air, giving time for the voice to reply. Without seeing their face, she had no idea if they were leaning towards releasing her or if they were just going to bide more time and screw around with her. Whatever the case may be, she knew they had to act at some point. And all she could do was just wait for their answer.

Then finally, it came.

“...very well then..”

In that moment, Sandra could feel a strange sensation overcome her. She could start to move again, but only very slightly. But this isn’t what caught her attention. No, instead it was the fact that there was some kind of...crackling sensation inside of her. A feeling that was hard to describe, yet still there. She struggled to keep herself under control, trying to endure this sensation, but it only got stronger, and she could feel a burning and twisting in her stomach, making her feel sick.

She could see, out of the corner of her good eye, Penny and Mint trying to get away, pulling a still unconscious Rudy with them. She was certain that the ones in the tar pit were still there; she could hear them shouting in fear, trying to get away, as if they thought that her massive form was going to crush all of them.

Sandra hissed loudly, opening her jaws as movement returned to them. She let out a loud roar, filled with a primal rage and fear, wanting to tear apart whoever was doing this to her. She attempted to fling herself around, yet this task was impossible given the fact that she still could not move all that well. This only made her try to struggle even more frantically, more desperately.

The weird sensation only grew continuously stronger, spreading through her body at a rather rapid rate. She could feel her vision start to fill up with nothing but a bright whiteness. She could feel her legs wobbling, and, with what sounded like a loud crack of stone, she collapsed into the ground. She found herself unable to move and she had to squint her eyes shut, trying to block out the light that was striking her in the face.

She wasn’t sure how long she stayed like this for. The only thing that she could do was remain here, laying on the ground, waiting for it all to be over. She curled her tail inward when it became flexible enough, providing extra shielding for her eyes. Oh gawd, it felt like someone was attempting to zap her with some kind of large light probe or something...

And that wasn’t even beginning to describe how her body felt. So weak and yet so strong... A strange intermix of contradictory states. She felt warm and cool at the same time, and she didn’t feel like she was shaky and yet at the same time, she did. She struggled to keep herself from screaming, struggled to keep herself silent, to show some sort of dignity. Whoever was doing this to her...she was not about to let them see that they were having some kind of effect on her.

Then suddenly, she collapsed completely in a loud thud...but strangely, she didn’t feel so heavy anymore. In fact, the ground did not even crack at her fall. How strange... Shouldn’t there have been at least a dent? She pushed herself up on one of her hands and rubbed her face and..

...why did her head suddenly feel soft again? And upon opening her eyes, why was her field of vision suddenly larger? What was...

Oh no... Oh gawd no...

Sandra looked down at her hands. She could feel her heart skip several beats, practically turning into ice. She tried to make sense of what she was seeing, but no matter what, she just could not understand what was going on here.

Her hands, they were blue... No longer purple-blue like they had been before. They were blue.. A sky blue, just like her original form....

With that in mind, Sandra immediately looked down at her own body. Sure enough, she immediately realized that she was her old self again. A two legged small dragon. Everything about her had changed. Even her white flame breath was completely gone. She could no longer even spit out a small burning ember or anything. Her mind swimmed at this realization and she struggled to control her breathing.

She looked around her, and she could see that the others that she had fused with were all laying on the ground. They were unconscious, unmoving. Still alive, but still as stone. She knew that none of them could have been responsible.

But there was still someone missing from this picture? Where was...

She shook her head, pushing the thought aside. She did not care at the moment. That coward was here somewhere. They were seeing this, surely. They were probably laughing at her, making her feel like she was such an idiot...

Well, she was not going to be made a fool of. Not this time. She would show them exactly what she was made of. If they were some sort of ally to Rudy, which she was certain that they were, then perhaps she could draw them out of hiding if she were to pay Rudy a little... ‘visit’... Sandra did not bother to think about her actions as she turned and she began to race towards Rudy’s fallen form.

Mint and Penny, in spite of her shere pain and agony, immediately got in her path, outstretching their hands in an attempt to stop her. Sandra pushed past them easily, using her tail to knock them aside. With Rudy vulnerable, she bared her sharp teeth and lunged at him, ready to attack...

...only to get knocked aside. Something slammed against her jaw and she found herself flying to the side. She crashed into the ground painfully. A terrible ache spread through her jaw and she thought for sure she had lost a tooth from that. With her hand against her sore spot, she looked over to see just who had done that.

Her eyes widened in absolute shock. It...It couldn’t be...right..? This had to be some kind of joke or something. There was just no way that...

“Are you surprised to see me, Sandra...?”

Mint whispered the name that Sandra was too stunned to hear on her own. “S-S-Snap...?”

Sandra pulled herself up to her feet, her body bent like a velociraptor’s, hunched down lower as though trying to defend herself. She looked over at Snap, her mouth open, heavily panting. Her swirling mind tried to make sense of what the heck was going on here. What was going on here? What was happening? Why was...

Snap tilted his head in one direction, giving a smirk. “You seriously did not figure it out until now? Oh Sandra...” He gave a small chuckle, shaking his head slowly. “I would have thought you would have figured it out much sooner... Oh you poor, naive little dragon...”

Sandra hissed at this, clenching her teeth tightly. She didn’t know where Snap got this attitude from, but she did not like it. She let out a groan as she pulled herself up, becoming a little straighter. She glared at him right in the eyes, her sharp teeth bared at him. Her tail swished from side to side like an angered feline ready to pounce.

“Y-You...” Sandra growled under her breath. “...how the fuck did you...”

Snap just smirked back at her. “I’d tell you, but I don’t think you’d listen..”

Sandra pulled her head back, her eyes widening in shock for a moment. Then she narrowed her crimson eyes back into slits and she began to make her way towards him. The initial shock of his escape was behind her in this moment, and she did the first thing she thought to do: she lunged at Snap.

sss

Mint watched in shock at what was going on. He found it difficult to look away. He just...could not believe what was happening before him.

Snap was...back? That alone was enough to freeze his mind and make everything around him seem...so dim, so silent. He hardly paid attention to anything around him. He could only stare out in utter silence as Snap jumped away, avoiding getting struck by Sandra.

Many thoughts swirled through his mind. Questions, hundreds of them, clogged up inside of his skull, making it impossible for him to think more clearly. All he could do was allow the thoughts to go through his head, causing it to ache as he tried so hard to sort them out. He bit his lip tightly, pressing his teeth up against the flesh. He struggled to keep himself from falling down from the shere weight of emotion that he felt upon seeing Snap had returned.

It just...didn’t make any sense. Snap had been absorbed into Sandra. How did he...? But it was not just Snap who was back. He did not need to look around too much to know that Skrawl and the Beanie Boys were out of here as well. They were still unconscious and hadn’t moved at all on the ground. Somehow, Snap was still standing and he was right there before them, going up against Sandra.

It took Mint a while to even begin to process what this actually meant. He thought back to what happened before, back at that one place where Sandra originally transformed. He recalled the way that Snap looked at them. The way that he had shunned them, and sided with Sandra. How did he go from that....to this? Could it be that Snap had never actually...

Mint could feel a sting of emotion strike him at that thought. He could feel himself clutching at his heart. To think that he had almost believed that Snap really did betray them... How could he have ever doubted him?

But then...why did he allow all that destruction? Why did he not attempt to get himself free earlier? Or was he just unable to? Was he having a difficult time? Was he just waiting for the right moment? It was difficult to say, and something told Mint that he might not fully like what he hears if he gets Snap to speak to him. He had no idea just how much he had truly changed. Was he still the same Snap? Or did he change for the worst?

His thoughts were pulled away from Snap when he heard a small groan beside him. He bit his lip upon seeing that Penny had collapsed to the ground, no longer able to stand. He had been impressed with how she was able to stand up for as long as she could to help him move Rudy. But now her injuries had finally started to get to her, and she was going to need help fast.

While Snap and Sandra still fought, Mint took this chance to try to help her out. There was not a ton that he could do for her, though. The blood would dissolve any chalk thing that he tried to draw, making using chalk-based bandages useless. He wasn’t about to give up, though. If he just took a closer look at the wound, he might be able to determine what was the best thing to do.

Kneeling before her, Mint leaned in and took a look at her wound. This meant having to pull her shirt up a little. While he knew how awkward this would look to people, when it came to trying to save someone, dignity had no place. Once he pulled her shirt up enough to expose the wound, he sucked in a sharp breath when he saw just how bad it looked.

It snaked along her chest in a rather jagged fashion, almost as if someone had took a knife and cut her very slowly along, taking their time. The gash was quite deep and he thought he could see a hint of bone, though he might have only imagined it. But he knew he did not imagine just how horrific this cut looked, nor the blood that continued to seep along her body, staining it a light crimson.

Upon seeing how bad it was, he really began to wonder if he could even do anything about this. Would it be at all possible for him to help Penny while she was in this state? Should he wait until they got back to the Real World? Or should he try to act now? Would waiting only make things worse?

Mint bit his lip as he watched Penny breathe in and out shakingly. It didn’t seem like waiting was a good idea. Penny was getting gradually weaker. And so was Rudy. He stared down at both of his friends, and he could hear, not only see, their breathing getting rapidly more and more ragged and shallow. If he did not do something quick, they might... He shut his eyes, fighting back the tears. No, he had to believe that they would make it. He just had to...

Mint took out his magic chalk. There was no time to really think of how long this would last or how affective it would be. Time was of the essence here. At the very least, it could slow down the bleeding, right?

So without further ado, he began to draw in midair. Once the cloth came into view, he grabbed onto it. He then turned down and stared at Penny. He paused for a moment, his mind rushing back to how Penny had struggled to save his life when they were still children. She, too, had limited capabilities, being in a world of chalk and him being from the Real World.

Yet she did not give up...and neither would he. If Penny could manage to save him, if she did not give up, then he was not about to give up on her.

Mint took one more look at Snap and Mint fighting before he turned his attention back to Penny. He clutched the cloth tightly in his hand and he began to lower it. In seconds, it contacted against the center of Penny’s chest, where the bleeding was the worst. He held it there, attempting to stop the bleeding.

As he did this, he looked over at where their allies were. Still trapped in the tar, he noticed. They weren’t hurt at least. At the moment, they had stopped struggling, realizing that they just could not bring themselves to yank themselves out of the tar; it was much too thick. They were going to need help. Right now, they were just watching what was going on carefully, either him or the fight.

Mint would try to free them if he could. He wanted to go over there and help them. But right now, he had to help Penny. He needed to stop the bleeding. Then... He would figure something out in due time.

But..what if he couldn’t...?

Feeling his heart sting, he looked back over at Snap. He bit his lip, more firmly than before. He sucked in a slow, deep breath. He hoped that Snap would be able to figure something out. He hoped that he knew what he was doing. For if he and the others could not figure out how to stop Sandra, then...

...it was going to all be on him...

sss

So it had all come down to this. Heh, perhaps she should have seen this coming. Perhaps she had allowed herself to be too...trusting. Maybe she should have realized something was wrong when the fusion had felt so strange and off. Yet she had pressed on, thinking that it was just her imagination.

Oh what a fool she was...

She had to admit, Snap had been quite clever. It was infuriating. It boiled her blood. She practically wanted to strangle the superhero zoner for defying her in such a way. And yet at the same time..she could not help but want to congratulate him on such a clever thing. She never would have guessed that he had been that good at acting....

The sky blue dragon had to pause at that. She genuinely didn’t really know what had been an act and what was not. She did not know how much of Snap’s fear was real and what was faked. Or if any of it had been faked at all. There was still some things about this that she was attempting to understand. Snap had taken advantage of her. That much she knew was accurate. But to what extent he had been tricking her.. That she did not know so well.

She narrowed her eyes, clenching her teeth. It did not really matter now, did it? The point was, he had played her, tricked her, toyed with her mind. He had acted like how she wanted just to lower her guard, and then he took power away from her. He somehow....figured it all out...

Well, that was not a surprise, now was it? It was her fault. She had been so excited that he had finally submitted to her that she divulged more information than she should have. She admitted, she had gotten quite arrogant. Her present situation had been her fault. If she did not give Snap so much information, if she had treated him like a more serious threat, then perhaps this would not be happening.

Well at least now, she was given the chance to... ‘correct’ that little oversight. She would....do something to make sure that Snap no longer defied her. She did not know just what that was yet. But she would figure that out in due time. She just had to...

If only the stupid zoner would just hold still... She had been attempting to grab onto him. But the little white and blue zoner was quite slippery. He continued to dodge her attempts, managing to slip away before she had a chance to even graze him with her fingers. She could feel herself growing more and more irritated. Why wouldn’t he cooperate? Did he have any idea of who he was messing with?

Of course he knew... And yet he was still doing this, anyway. Well if he wanted to be like this, then she would show him exactly what becomes of those who defy him. Perhaps a little more ‘firm motivation’ would be enough to ‘encourage’ him to be more willing to listen to her. Perhaps a strike or two would be enough to deter him, if she aimed well and hard enough.

But first, she had to actually catch the zoner, which was not going to be an easy task to do. Her usual methods just weren’t working. Despite her experience as a predator, Snap was still giving her the slip. Perhaps this was the result of her allowing him in her mind and...

For a split second, Sandra widened her eyes. Is that why Snap had... Was that one of the reasons that he... She gritted her teeth tightly, trying her best to avoid growling. Why that little... She then chuckled to herself. She had to admit, that was really quite a clever move there...

With her mind refocused on the task at hand, she dropped down on all fours and she jumped to one side. Snap almost mirrored her move, minus the all fours thing, moving backwards in a new direction. She narrowed her eyes and she made another leap, this time in a different direction than before. Snap repeated the same process, managing to reclaim the distance between them.

She could feel her body burning in frustration the longer that this wasn’t working. No matter how many times she tried to leap towards Snap, he managed to get away from her in equal distance. He had picked up a thing or two, it seemed. Perhaps it had been a mistake to heal him...

No matter. She would just have to change up her strategy. She had no plans on using her super healing powers on him. She would reserve that for later, for something much more worthy. For Snap, she had something different in mind.

Spreading her hands out, she jumped into the air. Snap looked up at her, wearing an expression that seemed to say ‘oh crap I forgot that she could fly’. Sandra admitted that she liked flying in her large form more, but this would do just fine. She moved her way around, keeping herself out of Snap’s range, but still allowing him to see her quite easily. Her teeth were bared in a twisted, sadistic smile, taking some measure of glee as she rendered his advantage moot. Let’s see how well he can dodge when his opponent was up in the air.

Sandra dove down towards him, the wind flapping against her body. Her ears swayed with the air and she could feel more rush against his teeth, feeling a brief sting that he managed to ignore. She quite enjoyed the look on Snap’s face. For several moments, it really did look as if he was going to be struck...

...then at the last possible second, she diverted her attack. The sky blue dragon zoner ended up striking the ground near him. There was a loud crack, and the resulting shock of what happend caused Snap to lose his own footing. She watched in utter amusement as Snap collapsed into the ground.

“Oh you poor little thing...” Sandra said softly as she shook her head. She extended her hand out towards him. “Do you need some help?”

Snap slapped her hand away. “Fuck off...” He hissed through his gritted teeth as he got up to his feet. “Like hell I would accept help from you...”

Sandra frowned at this. His attitude needed a lot more working on than she had imagined. She wasn’t sure if any of his submissiveness from before had been genuine or not. She was certain that some of it was, yes. But it was clear that, before she could even accept Snap back, before he could be of any use to her, she was going to have to put him through some more ‘training’...

“Heh... I must admit, you were pretty smart back there.” Sandra folded her arms against her chest. “Letting my guard down, tricking me to letting you get absorbed into me... Then flipping everything on its head.” She chortled, her shoulders shaking. “I take it that you never did turn against the others...did you?”

Snap curled his lip back into a snarl. “Of course not.. What the fuck makes you think that I would have done something like that?”

“Oh I don’t know... You did seem willing to let others get hurt...”

Snap appeared to freeze at this, his eyes widening in shock. He couldn’t even get himself to speak. He was just..frozen to the spot.

Sandra chuckled at this, tilting her head to the side. “Oh? You do not recall? I’m sure you must have some knowledge...” She grinned maliciously as she stared over at Snap. Perhaps this would shift things into her advantage. “Take a good look around you... Don’t tell me you forgot what I have done...”

Snap took a small step back from her. There was a slight shaking to his body as he looked around. His eyes appeared to flickere, as though finally remembering what had happened. Sandra could not help but smirk at this. Knowing how Snap was, the superhero zoner was going to utterly fall apart when he realized that he had allowed the promise breakers to get hurt or even killed. And when he was mentally weakened, she would make her move.

But then Snap appeared to shake it off. Sandra felt herself widening her eyes at this. She flinched when she found those eyes glaring right back at her, piercing through her. She tensed herself up, preparing for a potential fight. Not that she wanted to; she’d rather avoid doing too much damage to Snap if she could avoid it. But if he insisted, then...

“You really think that I am going to fall for that one?” Snap spoke. His voice was thick like ice over a frozen lake. It was enough to make Sandra feel uncomfortable. “I knew all along what you were doing... And I did not ‘let’ it happen.” He gave something of a smile to her as he gave a bitter chuckle. “Do you have any idea of what it is like trying to navigate your mind? It was like a maze!” After a few more seconds of bitter chuckling, he looked at her with a sideways glance. “I am just glad that I was able to do anything at all... Seems like I still wound up spoiling your fun, right?”

“I see...” Not exactly the best comeback, but it was all that Sandra could think of at the moment. She had to pause for a moment and try to figure out something else that she could say. Then, in a hope to try to shatter Snap’s demeanor, she said, “But I bet you still feel sorry for yourself, right? You still feel bad that you couldn’t do something sooner.” She motioned her hand outwards. “Many of those pitiful zoners are dead, Snap.” She then indicated the three humans, who were still not too far. “And your dear friends... Look at them, Snap. Don’t you feel just awful about this?”

Surely that would get through to the zoner. Surely that would be enough to click with him, and he would end up being unable to move. Surely that would break his resolve.

Snap stared at her long and hard. He was shaking from the emotion sweeping through him. She could tell that he was about to break. She just grinned at this, looking forward to when he did. It was going to be so entertaining to see. She would love to hear him try to say that it wasn’t true, try to reason with himself, whatever, only to conclude that, yes, this was still his fault in some shape or form.

But when Snap simply smiled, that’s when Sandra tensed up, taking a step back. Why was he looking at her that way? Why was he looking so gleeful? What was going on here?

“You know, it’s pitiful how you use such predictable strategies, Sandra. Why can’t you try to be a little more original?” Snap folded his arms behind his back, pacing from side to side. “Come on, where is the smart Sandra that I used to know? Had she gone on vacation?”

Sandra gritted her teeth, growling softly.

Snap chuckled. “Ah that’s your response to everything, I presume. Oh yes. Something does not go your way or someone points out the truth, and you start to fall apart. I remember before, when you actually had some kind of resolve.”

Sandra formed fists with her hands. “What are you insinuating...?”

Snap shrugged his shoulders. “Nothing really.” He relaxed his shoulders. “I’m just pointing out that your own resolve has gotten pretty weak lately. I have to wonder if you just...can’t handle all of this. Perhaps you are just unable to comprehend what....”

“Shut up!” Sandra snapped at him. She adopted a more aggressive posture. “Why don’t we just get this over with and...”

Snap raised his hand up. “Are you so sure you want to do that?”

Sandra hissed through her clenched teeth. Then she gave a small sigh, forcing herself to relax a little bit. “..not exactly. But if you keep pushing me...”

“Hey, I’m not doing any pushing.” Snap raised his hands up. “It is you who is pushing yourself.”

Sandra flattened her ears at this, letting out a low growl. She was struggling the best she could to keep herself composed. She could not allow herself to lose it and end up doing something to hurt Snap too much.

...then again, she could always heal him right after, so what was she worried about? So long as he still had a heartbeat, she could ensure what he survived and heal up just fine. Even if she spilled out his guts, he could still ensure that he remained alive. There wasn’t much to worry about at all. She smirked slightly at this.

Snap appeared to have noticed this and he gave a dark chuckle, as if he had witnessed the funniest thing in the world. Sandra refrained from glaring back, keeping her twisted smile. For several moments, the two former friends just smirked at each other, practically forgetting where they were or who was around them. They only knew each other, in this moment.

“What do you think you are going to do with me? You going to drag me back to your little pen house for a little ‘chat’? Are you going to try to sway me again with your false promises?”

Sandra snapped her jaws tightly at this. “False promises?!” Sandra took a step forward, jabbing a finger in Snap’s direction. “I never make false promises!”

“Oh no?” Snap rubbed his chin thoughtfully. “Oh that is right...” He glanced upward a little. “I do recall that you tend to keep your promises...” He lowered his hand and shrugged his shoulder. “Well you are about to become a promise breaker yourself.”

“How dare you...” Sandra’s eyes blazed.

Snap shrugged his shoulders, hardly paying any attention to Sandra’s growls or her expression. “I do have a question though.” He moved closer to Sandra. If he was afraid, he was doing a very good job of hiding it. It was as though his resolve was thick and near unbreakable. “I was curious about what Haney had said...”

Sandra growled at this. Why would Snap be interested in anying he had to say? Not like her half brother had anything that important to say. He was just a little... She shook her head for a moment and lifted it up slightly. “Oh really now...?”

Snap nodded his head a couple of times. “Yes... I was quite fascinated by what he said regarding what you did to me a few years ago. How you went through with your promise to punish the one who destroyed your machine....” He tilted his head slightly. “...without telling me.”

Despite the fact that she had managed to obtain a resolve before and keep herself from being too affected, Sandra still felt herself stiffening up at this. She could feel her heart twist and yank, and she could taste a bitterness in her mouth. She tried to prevent herself from looking too unnerved. She did not want him to see that it had an effect on her.

But it was too late. Snap was smirking at her, clearly having noticed. “You do remember, don’t you?” He tilted his head to one side. “I’m sure you do...”

Sandra clenched her teeth tightly. “What does that have to do with anything?” Sandra spoke, attempting to shift the topic. “Why don’t we just...”

“Why are you dodging the topic, Sandra?” Snap taunted, leaning himself forward towards her. “Are you afraid? It’s only the truth.” Sandra growled, but could not think of a response. Snap started to walk towards her. “I would like answers, Sandra. Why didn’t you tell me earlier about the whole thing?”

“Not like it would have changed your reaction later on.” Sandra rolled her eyes.

“True, it may not. But still...” Snap narrowed his eyes slowly. “Don’t you think that I deserved the right to know? If you considered me a friend, why didn’t you just tell me why you were doing it? Or did you not trust me enough?”

Sandra spluttered, “Not trust you? N-No...th-that wasn’t it.. Not at the time I m-mean... I...”

“Then why didn’t you tell me?” Snap pressed on. “Why didn’t you tell me about the promise? Haney was right. I did not know about it, because you never told me. If you had considered me a friend at the time, if you had trusted me at all, you would have told me.” Snap’s voice grew dark. “But you didn’t...did you..?”

Sandra could not think of a reply.

Snap scoffed at this and turned his head to the side. “Of course not...”

Sandra gritted her teeth. She tried to think of a response. She tried to say something...anything. But nothing would come to her mind. The only thing that she could do was just glare at him, trying to at least look a little defiant.

He was wrong. Whatever he was thinking, he was completely wrong. He didn’t fully understand what she was going through. He did not know what her thought processes were. He did not know what she had in mind. She had her reasons for not telling him. It was just...he would not understand. He was incapable of understanding. How could he hope to comprehend something that was a...rather complicated matter?

Or at least, that’s what she keeps telling herself...

Sandra shook her head, feeling emotion stinging through her body. She hunched her shoulders, her tail swishing from side to side. “Do you want to get this over with or not?”

Snap stared at her for several moments. Then he smiled softly. “Do you plan on fighting me?”

Sandra hissed at this. “If you won’t listen to reason...”

“Ohhh... One problem with that.” Snap said.

“Oh? And what is that?” Sandra replied.

Snap lowered his head slightly, staring at her intently. “You promised that I would be safe with you...” Sandra widened her eyes at this. “If I were to be hurt by you...” He tilted his head to the other side, giving her something of a sly expression. “...would I not no longer be safe with you...?”

Sandra froze, lowering her ears as she felt her face lighten up a little in color. She tried to get herself to speak, but all she could was just stare at Snap. She gulped nervously, an unbearable silence falling among them.

What could she say to that? How could she respond? No matter what she thought of to say...it just didn’t make any sense. She didn’t want to admit that Snap had a point, but... what if he did? No, she knew that Snap spoke the truth. She did make a promise that he would be safe with her. And that meant that she could not lay a hand on him.

...but Snap did not have that same kind of restriction...

That’s when she noticed the fist.

sss

Snap could feel himself grinning with a sense of glee when he struck Sandra in the jaw. The pent up rage that he allowed accumulate had finally been released in a nice little punch. He watched as Sandra was knocked into the ground. He remained standing for several moments, his body still shaking with emotion. He took a few moments to comprehend what he had just done before he made his way over, unable to stop grinning.

He did feel a small sense of uncomfortableness about how he was acting. He did not feel fully himself. He felt...a little frightened honestly. It was quite something to see himself do something with such glee that he never would have before. He detested fighting like this...and yet now he was almost craving it.

Then again, would anyone blame him? Sandra had been an absolute monster. Tearing people apart, playing with them, killing them... And all for the name of the ‘sacred promise’ that she keeps rambling on about. It was about time that someone put her in her place. If it meant acting a little out of character, then he was willing to do it. For the time being, fuck being the nice person. He had given her a chance before and she rejected it. So if that wouldn’t work, then maybe force would.

Yes, violence and cruelty were something that she responded to, right? She seemed to love using that to try to control her victions. She had tried to use the ultimate act of violence on him just to make him bow down to her. Well he has some news for her; it was not going to work. Not for long.

He paused, taking a moment to look over at his friends. Even through his current mental state, he could still feel a pang of guilt when he looked over at them. He did still feel horrible about what he had to say back there, back at the laboratory. Even though he knew he didn’t have much of a choice if he wanted his plan to work, it still hurt just thinking about it.

He shook his head. Now was not the time to be too upset by that. He did what he had to do. He can explain it to them later, after he took care of Sandra. He turned his head and glared off back towards the dragon, his teeth clenched tightly, growling lowly.

At this point, Sandra had already gotten back up to her feet. She shook her head, taking on a dinosaur-like posture and growled at him, her tail swishing about, her hands held in that dinosaurian posture. She and him paced around each other slowly, not saying a word, waiting for the other to make a move.

But just like he had predicted, she had become...hesitant. He knew that she would become like this. He knew her all too well. And now he was going to use that to his full advantage. After all, she might have become suddenly limited in what she could do to him...

...but he did not.

Snap did not waste any time. He suddenly bolted forward, pounding his feet against the ground as he ran. He bared his teeth, clenching them tightly. His eyes narrowed in determination. He watched as Sandra cringed from this and froze, looking utterly confused by what she should do. She looked as if she was going to use her powers on him, but something held her back. With his fist pulled back, he struck her again.

Snap glared down at her fallen form, a cold and smirking expression on his face. “You...have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to do that...”

Sandra coughed a little, tiny specks of blood coming out from here she had lost one of her back teeth. She looked down at her lost tooth before glaring back at Snap. She picked herself up slowly, wiping the blood of of her face. “I don’t see why you have to be so unreasonable...”

Snap tilted his head to one side. “I am the one who is unreasonable? Let me remind you of what the fuck you have done...” Snap narrowed his eyes into slits as he took a step closer to the blue dragon. “You lied to people. You killed people to feed to others. You attacked my friend and crippled him for life over something that had already been forgiven. You attack the city and you captured us. You...did that to me... You tried to control me and the others. And you had the audacity to attack and kill so many zoners of this city, and then try to claim that you are innocent...”

Sandra widened her eyes as Snap struck her again, this time under her jaw. Sandra stumbled back, yelping in pain and holding her mouth, as though she had bitten her tongue. The new blood flow seemed to indicate this. She looked back at Snap, her eyese filled with shock and anger.

“So don’t you fucking dare tell me that I am being unreasonable!” Snap told her, forming fists with his hands. His eagerness to attack her further was getting stronger, but he held himself back, knowing that he needed to pace himself. In a forcibly calm voice, he said, “So...how is that for you?”

Sandra gritted her teeth. She stayed silent for several moments. Her body trembled, her legs a little wobbly. Her piercing red eyes looked as if they wanted to strike through his very soul. The only thing keeping her from doing that was not anything physical, but mental. The one thing that she had thought was a strength, but now Snap was using as her greatest weakness.

“You...why don’t you just lay down?!”

Sandra’s voice had taken on a different tone at this point. It was sort of slightly pleading, and yet not. It was hard to describe. But it was a tone that he had recalled her using before, years ago when she attempted to say him to her side.

“You just don’t understand! Please... Why don’t we just stop this silly nonsense now and head back and I’ll be glad to explain more if you’re confused.” Sandra’s posture was still tense. But she had held her hand over towards him, as if she expected him to grab it. “We can deal with them later. This can wait. You are just confused. I can explain..”

Snap struggled not to scream at Sandra when she said this. He was not really all that surprised that she said it. In fact, he had fully expected it. That did not change just how infuriating it was for him to hear. Even after all this time, she still would not say from the ‘sanctity of the promise’.

Which of course, brought him to something else...

“You never did tell me why you never explained to me why you hurt me before.” Snap’s voice may have sounded calm, but even he took note of the chill in his own voice. He struggled not to shudder at it.

“What do you mean?” Sandra panted a little. “I told you everything! I...”

Snap shook his head. “Maybe after you already hurt me... But why didn’t you tell me before?” He took a step forward. “You never once told me before that you saw promises were so important. Perhaps I might have been more understanding if I knew before hand. Still angry, but more willing to see that it was just your way of seeing things. I imagine things would not have been much different and yet...” He lowered his head slightly. “..wouldn’t you have preferred things that way?”

Sandra took a step back. She fumbled her hands together, looking as though she was having a hard time deciding what to say next. She looked left and right, her mind’s gears obviously turning. Then she said, “W-Well...you might have sh-shunned me and...”

“And hurting me and ostracizing me from society wouldn’t have done that?!” Snap briefly lost control over himself, and he could not stop himself from yelling. “Your disgusting actions weren’t going to make people shun you and yet admitting how you saw the world was?! What kind of...” Snap gripped his head, seething. He forced himself to relax, feeling the energy go through the tips of his hands. “Look, all I am saying is... I do not get why you did not tell me. I don’t think you even have a good reason either, do you?”

“I...” Sandra could not speak any further.

“I thought not.” Snap said in a grim tone. He remained silent for a moment. He took a few more steps towards her. Sandra tensed herself up, showing him her sharp teeth. That had no effect on him. “I’m afraid I don’t have much of a choice...”

Sandra lowered her ears. “What are you going to do, shrimp?” She attempted to straighten herself up, trying to look larger and tougher. Like that was going to intimidate him to stop. “Are... Are you going to fight me? You know you stand no chance!” Sandra arched her head a little, pulling her lips back enough to show her sharp, pointed teeth. “You know I could take you on easily... You know what I am capable of.”

“Oh yes, I know. I did not forget.” Snap gave a slightly twisted smirk. “Of course, you can’t really do a thing about it, remember?” Sandra looked at him with a perplexed expression. “Oh don’t tell me you forgot already...” Snap raised his head up slightly. “You made a promise that I would be safe with you...”

Sandra paused for several moments. Then she gave a smirk right back at him. “Yes, but that does not mean that I cannot hurt you...”

“Perhaps not...” Snap had expected this reply. Which was why he had thought of another. He looked at his hand, twisting it around and examining the back of it. “But I do recall that, before my friends arrived, that you said that I would no longer be harmed. You promised that...” He looked back at her. “..didn’t you?”

Sandra froze at this, her eyes widening.

Snap simply smiled in response to this. “You may have the advantage...usually. But tell me, Sandra. How are you going to fight me if you promised I would not get hurt? How are you going to restrain me?” He gave a quick, bitter chuckle. “And here I am, having no such restrictions...”

Sandra yelped when she was punched yet again, this time square on the nose. She managed to dodge another attack, jumping away from Snap. She kept her hands on her snout, rubbing it carefully. She looked back at Snap, her expression looking somewhat wild. “S-Stop this at once! Y-You can’t...!” She was cut off yet again with another blow. Her head was tossed back and she found herself hitting against one of the sharp chunks of debris that she herself had knocked down. How ironic... She hissed as she clutched against her bleeding shoulder as she glared back at him.

“If you wish to stop me, then you will have to fight me.” Snap hunched his shoulders, raising up his fists. “But you promised that you would not hurt me anymore. So I wonder...what are you going to do now, Sandra?” He grinned almost viciously at this, feeling the need to avenge his friends, and himself, grow even stronger. “I’d love to see how you can wriggle your way out of this one...”

Sandra hissed at this, jumping up into the air. She hovered above him, holding out her talons towards him. “Don’t make me do this, Snap!” She called out to him. “Don’t make me go against my word!”

“Why? Because you will feel filthy if you do? Maybe you will learn a thing or two...” Snap hunched his legs, feeling the muscles winding up inside. “Maybe you will learn that, sometimes, promises really do have to be broken...”

Sandra’s face paled slightly, her ears lowering a tad. “Snap...please..”

Snap just gave a quick ‘heh’ at this before he charged towards her. Sandra was so stunned and conflicted on what to do that she did not attempt to fly any higher. Snap jumped up onto the nearby debris, giving him more leverage. Then he launched herself towards Sandra, colliding with her, wrapping his arms around her body. The two crashed into the ground painfully, and they soon began to wrestle with each other for control.

Around and around, they rolled about. They gripped each other’s shoulders, baring their teeth at one another. They tossed and they turned, constantly somersaulting around. They paid no attention to the dizziness this gave them, nor did they pay attention to what anyone else around them was saying. Heck, they could not even recall just who was still around and who may have left. Right now, their attention was only on each other.

Snap grunted as he struggled to get Sandra down. This was not an easy task; Sandra was larger than he was, a little heavier to boot. They seemed pretty equal in strength as well, but he knew that if he just allowed his adrenaline to pump through, he could be even stronger.

And that’s exactly what he did. Managing to turn on his adrenaline was not hard; it automatically did when his brain sensed that he was in an extreme and dangerous situation. He gripped Sandra’s shoulders more firmly and he began to push back even harder. Sandra gritted her teeth as he fought back. But Snap had already begun to get the upperhand. It did not seem to take too long before, at last, he managed to pin her down.

Snap stood on Sandra, using his weight to hold her down. Well whatever weight that he had available that is. Sandra glared up at him, panting heavily, likely trying to figure out just how she should handle this situation. Snap merely glared back at her, gritting his teeth, growling softly.

There were so many thoughts going through his mind right now. A part of him wanted to keep attacking Sandra. A part of him wanted to shout at her. Yet another part just wanted to understand why she did what she did, even if she had already explained it. In the end, he was reduced to just breathing through his clenched teeth, seething.

Then his thoughts began to burn when he recalled the most heinous act that she had committed against him. It caused him to freeze and he sucked in a sharp breath. He tried hard not to let the tears show. He shook his head slowly before glaring back at the disgusting zoner down below him.

“Get off of me right now, Snap! You are making me very angry! Get off!” Sandra called out to him.

Snap hissed at this. “Why don’t you just make me? Come on... Strike me if you dare!”

Sandra stiffened up at this. “You know I can’t do that.” She formed a fist with her hands. “I can’t break a promise!”

Snap chuckled darkly at this. “Then I guess you will just have to sit there...”

Snap did not hesitate to pull his fist back and strike her against her lower jaw. She let out a yelp as her head was tossed to the side. She laid there for several moments before she looked back up at him, her red eye widened in shock and confusion and even a little horror, her teeth partially bared, showing more of how she was feeling.

“And take it!”

Snap proceeded to start punching Sandra. Again and again, he hit her, harder, more ferociously. He ignored her screams of pain, her attempts to make him stop. The only thing on his mind was making her pay for what she had done. So multiple times, he struck her against her jaw, her cheek, her head, whatever he could strike. He could see that she was becoming a bit covered in bruises and a bit of blood trickling down her face. Still he did not stop.

Sandra attempted to push back against him. She was careful not to hurt him, likely remembering her promise. She hissed and growled, clenching her teeth tightly. She turned her head to the side, back and forth, trying to avoid his attacks. She let out yelps of pain when she kept getting attacked. She looked as if she was starting to panic, evident by the look in her eyes. She did not give up, however, and she kept fighting back.

Sandra looked up at him with a mixed expression on her face, clenching her teeth tightly. She managed to stop his next attack, her hand gripping around his fist tightly. She held him still, her eyes bulging a little wider. “Please stop this...” She spoke, her voice practically a begging tone. “It doesn’t have to be this way! Please don’t force me to...”

Snap refused to listen to her. Why should he, after all what she had done to him and everyone else? With an angry snarl, he struck at her again. And when she tried to speak another time, he merely just hit her yet again. Eventually Sandra just stopped trying to speak and raised an arm, hoping to try to block his attacks.

Snap was relentless, however. Despite her continued pleas, though silent, he still attacked her. A part of him realized that he was going a little too far, but he just could not stop himself. His desire to stop Sandra was strong, and he just continued attacking her.

All the while, he could tell that Sandra was getting a little antsy. Her body was tensing up and shaking. She let out a series of snarls and confused noises. She looked continuously frustrated, wanting to bite him but being unable to due to her promise. She looked as if she wanted to let out a loud scream of frustration, anything, whatever she could to release herself.

Then, eventually, Sandra made a move. Despite her efforts to stop herself, her body could no longer hold back. With her leg placed into position, she suddenly struck forward, ramming her foot against Snap’s stomach. The force of the impact was enough to knock the air out of Snap’s lungs and he rolled across the ground painfully. He soon picked himself up and glared back at her, panting heavily to refill his lungs.

Sandra was on her knees and hands, her eyes wide in utter horror. She had her mouth wide open and she breathed in and out heavily, struggling to cope with what she had done. She looked back at him, her eyes telling so many emotions at once, like he was looking into some kind of void.

“L-Look at what you made me do, Snap...” Sandra spoke up.

Snap opened his mouth to speak, but he stopped when he felt a bit of pain in his stomach. He looked down and he saw that he had a couple of puncture marks from Sandra’s claws. He must not have noticed the pain until now. Suddenly, the pain caught up to him and he clutched his stomach, dropping onto one knee. Upon hearing chuckling, he looked back at Sandra.

The dragon zoner’s red eyes had taken on an almost insane look. Her muzzle was stretched into a broad smile. It looked almost happy, yet the slight things that were off made it look unbearable to see. Her body trembled as she continued to laugh, the chuckling getting louder by the second before she was practically cackling.

“Look at what you made me do!”

Snap gulped at this, realizing that he had just made a huge mistake. He could feel his color fading fast and he was struggling not to throw up. Why did he have to do something so stupid? Why did he have to go down this dangerous path? He had to do something, before...

Sandra’s smile turned vicious. Though her corners were still upward, her snout had gotten all wrinkly and twisted. Her face looked like the perfect fusion of giggling happiness and uncontrollable rage. She soon dropped down on all fours, the look completing her feral disposition.

Just like how she had gotten all those years ago... The memories flooded back to him now, flash after flash. How she had grabbed him, how she had sliced him open, how she had eaten him alive...

And now it looked like it was going to happen again. That realization was enough to fill him with burning, chilling horror.

“Are you happy, Snap?! You made me go against what I believe in...” She lowered her head, her eyes narrowing further. “Now it’s time for me to break you...”

Snap cringed back, lifting up his arm, as Sandra suddenly broke into a run, keeping herself in her four-legged posture. Snap did not have time to react before he felt Sandra’s teeth sinking into his arm.

sss

Sandra didn’t want to do this. She really didn’t want to do this. She wished there was another way. She wished that she could have done something different. Please, there had to be another way...

But there wasn’t, was there? As much as she wished she could do something else, as much as she could beg and plead for another way, it would only result in this. Forced into a situation where she didn’t have a choice. A situation where she was at a crossroads, stuck between a rock and a hard place.

She had only two options: either let Snap continue to beat her up, or to break her own promise. And neither of them she was interested in doing. But how the fuck was she supposed to choose..?

She soon realized that it was no contest. There was really only one thing that she could do. Despite the fact that it went against everything that she stood for, she had no choice but to break her own promise. There was no way that she was going to allow Snap to get the better of her. She was not going to let him win...

...and yet that’s exactly what she did by breaking her promise. No, it wasn’t just that. No matter which way she want, Snap would have one in some way. She had been forced to choose between going against her beliefs or letting him hurt her. Either way, Snap wins. The thought burned her mind.

The very idea of breaking her own promise about not hurting him.. She could feel her gut twisting up inside. This was one of the hardest thingts that she’s ever had to do. She knew there was no other way, if she wanted to survive that is. But still, why couldn’t there be another way?

“Sometimes promises have to be broken, Sandra.”

Her blood ran cold at this. Even when she was biting into Snap’s arm, shredding it, despite how feral she looked, she was still fully able to register the horror of what was going on, and the horror of the sentence that just echoed in her mind.

She breathed in shakingly, ignoring the taste of iron blood in her mouth. She had been told so many times that there are conditions where a promise had to be broken. And she would always fight back. She would always insist that it wasn’t true, that so long as you stay determined, you could keep any promise. That was the right thing to do.

Now she was being forced into a situation that made her want to vomit. The very idea of her being...wrong, the idea that there were indeed times when a promise had to be broken, it was more than she coud handle. It was a fucking miracle that she didn’t collapse at the moment. Her mind and her chest were filled with a torrent of twisting emotion, and she struggled to keep her breathing under control.

Then all of those emotions began to be focused against Snap. Her horror replaced with rage. She knew full well that it was his fault that this had happened. It was his fault that she was being forced into this. It was his fault that she had to break the sanctity of the promise. Now she was cursed. She had become a sinner. She was no better than those promise breakers in the city.

And it was all Snap’s fault...

Sandra released Snap when he struck back at her, his fist colliding with her head. She moved her head to the side, glaring at him with gritted teeth, her single red eye staring down at him with blazing anger. She took note of the horror in his eyes. Yes, he should be afraid.

Sandra knocked her head against him, throwing him aside. Snap rolled painfully across the ground. She adopted a hostile stance, her hands spread out. She kicked the ground with her feet, her claws scraping along the ground, her tail wriggling behind her. Snap struggled up to his feet and he shook his head, coughing a little. He looked back at her, still looking as terrified as before.

Sandra couldn’t help but smirk. Well, there was one good thing that came out of this. Now that she had broken a promise, Snap could no longer use that against her. She was already a loose cannon before, but now there was absolutely nothing stopping her. Snap had just sealed his own fate.

Without hestitation, she bolted straight towards him, her hands still out, helping her to move even faster. Her feet struck the ground with heavy thudding and she hardly stopped for breath. The only thing that she cared about was getting to Snap. She gritted her teeth for a moment, and then opened her mouth, panting with her tongue hanging out. Her eyes blazed and she thought that she could see the glow against the ground.

When she had gotten up to Snap, Sandra raised her foot up and she kicked against him. She felt a bout of pain in her chest, the horror of having to do another attack. But it was soon replaced with a sense of glee, a sense of wonder, a sense of..relief.

Perhaps breaking a promise was not so bad after all...

Sandra jumped on top of Snap. She could hear him scream in terror. She could feel him try to struggle to get away. She gripped onto his squirming body tightly, her talons digging deep into his body. She could feel his blood starting to spill out and she could smell the crimson fluid in the air, her nostrils flaring.

She smiled down at Snap twistedly, giving a few chuckles. She opened her jaws and then she closed them around Snap’s head. The zoner screamed as her teeth raked along his face, tearing up the thin and fragile skin. She jerked her head back, tearing off a part of Snap’s face with it.

She looked down, almost grimacing at the sight of her own handiwork. She had to admit, she did not expect to do that much damage to him. She could see the bones and muscles, exposed in the gash that she had created. Snap’s eyes were shut and tears spilled out rapidly. Some of them began to move onto the open wound, stinging him horribly. She could hear him whimper in response.

Might as well not let him die that fast. She might still be able to use him. She let the mark on her forehead glow, healing Snap up in a matter of seconds. That did not do much to stop his whimpering, though. The pain must still be echoing through his mind.

Sandra reached out and she grabbed onto Snap’s lower chin. She smiled down at him darkly, giving a series of dark chuckles. “I must thank you, Snap... Thank you for helping me overcome my fear of breaking a promise. Now you have nothing to hold against me... And now I can properly punish you for what you have done...”

Snap shook his head. “W-Wait... Th-That’s not what I...”

“Oh don’t be so modest! This was all your idea! Aren’t you proud of me, Snap?” Sandra twisted her head to the side, her eyes widening, her pupils nearly vanishing. A twisted grin plastered over her face and she was unable to stop herself from laughing. “This is your handiwork, Snap! Aren’t you proud of me?!”

Snap attempted to squirm away from her. He pushed back against her, his hand placed against the side of her head. Just to amuse herself, she allowed Snap to push her head to the side, her teeth exposed in a disturbing smile. “Please..st-stop this... I-I didn’t mean to...”

Sandra cut him off by striking him across the face with her hand. The slap’s sound radiated in the room, echoing for a few seconds. Snap kept his head turned, his hand placed against his cheek, looking up at Sandra in utter horror and fear. “Well it’s too late for that, isn’t it?! You wanted me to break a promise, and now I have! You have shown me the way! It is all thanks to you!”

Snap shook his head, his body trembling. “I just wanted...” He gulped nervously. “I-I just wanted you to leave me and my friends alone...”

“Well I’ll be doing plenty of that after I tear that fucking soul of yours apart, now wouldn’t I?!”

Sandra let out another laugh as Snap’s eyes widened in horror. She then raised her tail up, the spikes glinting in the light. She positioned them near Snap, the muscles in her tail tightening up, fully prepared to attack. She lifted her tail up slightly and then she proceeded to strike down.

...only to suddenly to be knocked back by a strong blast of energy. She released Snap as she fell into the ground. Groaning, she picked herself up, holding onto her head. She shook it a few times, and then she turned to glare in the direction of the attack. Who had dared...

“Don’t take another step or I will shoot you again!”

Sandra paused at this. Seconds later, she saw Mint standing there, his eyes narrowed at her, holding some kind of laser pistol straight at her. Sandra froze instantly.

sss

Mint stood his ground the best that he could. He tried to hide the fear that raced through his body. He struggled not to let himself give into fear and run. He forced himself to remain put, his gun lifted up and pointed directly at Sandra. His whole body trembled and yet he managed to remain standing, his finger on the trigger, ready to shoot at any moment if she gave him any reason to.

Everything at that point had come to a stand still. It was quiet... Oh so quiet... Not a sound was being made. No move was being attempted. He was just...glaring at Sandra, ready to shoot. And she stared back at him, an eyebrow raised, looking like she was ready to attack, and yet she could not bring herself. Not unless she wanted to get herself hurt as well.

Part of the reason it was so quiet didn’t have anything to do with something bad. While Sandra and Snap were fighting, Mint had gone to work figuring out how to get the others out of here. Some protested and he realized they had a good point. But still, he didn’t want them getting hurt and he would rather they take Penny and Rudy far away from here where they couldn’t get hurt. Even if that left him to be the only creator left to stand up to Sandra...

He was certain that Sandra must think he was stupid. Even if she did not say it, the look in her eyes and the wild grin suggested that she was fully aware he was lone here. The only human left who could defy her, and if something happened to him... And it didn’t help that he was already injured to start with...

Well, it was a good thing then that he had come up with a plan, now wasn’t it?

Sandra gritted her teeth tightly, the skin still wrinkled up like how one would see on the face of a tiger. “Nice of you to join, my dear creator.” She tilted her head to one side. “Did you come to join death? I will be happy to take you there.”

Mint narrowed his eyes at this. “You would have to try to catch me first. And I can promise you, Sandra, it is not going to be easy.”

Sandra let out a series of dark chuckles at this. “Promises, promises... Don’t you get sick of them?” She raised her hand up in gesture, walking in a rather strange fashion. “Why don’t you throw something better at me than promises...” Her eyes glinted. “Like actions...”

Mint did feel a sharp sense of shock upon hearing this. Was he interpreting it right? Did Sandra just more or less say that she...no longer cared about promises...? He turned his head towards Snap, silently inquiring with him about this. When he saw the terrified and guilty look in his eyes, it all clicked in.

Oh gawd... Mint gulped, feeling something heavy in his stomach, feeling a sharp twisting sensation. He was fully aware that the main thing holding Sandra back, her one moral code that could stop her from going too far, was promises. She had been all about promises. Keeping them, ensuring that whatever she promised was never broken... And if she decided that they were no longer of use to her...

Then what the fuck was going to hold her back now...?

Mint did not have time to think about that when Sandra suddenly launched herself in his direction. He barely had time to move his hand away to keep her from getting a hold of it. He let out a cry of pain when her sharp teeth sank into his arm. He struggled to keep himself up, but he found himself falling into the ground with a loud thud. He grunted as he attempted to push her back, trying to kick her from his body.

But Sandra was relentless. She snarled wildly, her expression making her look like she was some sort of wild animal or something. It was one of the most terrifying things he’s ever experienced with her. The way that she was looking at him...

Mint did not give up, however. He struggled and he writhed along the ground. Even without Snap’s help, who was still frozen in fear and shock at what he felt like he caused, Mint was able to, finally, kick Sandra away. His foot slammed against her stomach and she was knocked backwards. Her form landed heavily in the ground, and she tossed and she rolled across before landing on her stomach. She let out a small groan before she lifted herself up a little, one hand on the ground and the other holding her head. She glared back at him, releasing a loud, primal roar.

Mint stiffened up his body as Sandra got back up again. She adopted a velociraptor-like stance, reminding him that he had sent Ripclaw away, too. He gritted his teeth, feeling stupid for doing that. He didn’t have time to finish his thought before he had to jump to the side. He winced when he felt Sandra’s claws graze beside him, ripping into his clothes and just barely cutting the skin. Though largely bloodless, he could still feel the sting radiating through that part of his body.

Once he gotten far enough, he turned himself around and glared back at Sandra, being quick enough to witness her lower her foot in the ground, the tips of her talons possessing small bits of clothing torn from him. She remained standing, back parallel to the ground, for several seconds. Then she turned her head and looked over her shoulder. She gave him a broad, gleeful smile.

“Isn’t this fun, creator?” Sandra cooed. “I think we’re having a lot of fun...”

Mint gritted his teeth, taking a small step back. It was clear to him that Sandra had gone off the deep end now. She had already lost it before yearsa go, and when she returned... but now it was worse. Now, with promises no longer meaning anything to her, there was just no leverage anymore. Nothing to make her stop...

Well, nothing of course, except fighting back.

Mint raised his laser pistol when he saw Sandra coming at him yet again. She adopted a more feral stance this time. All fours, like he had noticed her using on Snap a little earlier. She rushed towards him as quickly as she could, her teeth clenched tightly, her mouth split wide open. Mint took aim and waited for her to get close enough.

He was not at all surprised to see that Sandra did not stop, even when he clearly saw that he had his pistol aimed at her. He positioned the weapon towards her, and when she got a certain distance from him, when she got ready to lunge, that’s when he fired. With a single pull of the trigger, there was a bright flash of light and a rush of energy. In a matter of seconds, the blast struck against the dragon zoner, causing her to scream and fly backwards, landing in the ground rather painfully.

Not like that stopped her for long. The dragon zoner was soon back on her feet, looking at Mint with that same wild expression from before. She licked her lips slowly, looking rather insane for a few seconds, before she raced towards him yet again, once more taking on an all four legged approach. Mint raised his gun yet again and pointed it at her, fully prepared to shoot her again if it meant stopping her.

This time, however, Sandra was more prepared.

Before he had a chance to pull the trigger, Sandra jumped to one side and whirled herself around. Mint looked around frantically, trying to see where the dragon zoner had gone off to. Sandra moved in from behind and he could feel her shadow on him, her breath hitting against his leg. He had only a split second before the shere agony came.

Mint let out a scream and he fell to the ground. He could hear Snap calling out to him in horror, but he did not respond. He laid on the ground, his laser pistol having fallen to the side, and tried to fight back against Sandra. He grabbed onto her head, his fingers splayed across her forehead and eyes, and pushed back.

Yet Sandra refused to let go. She let out a series of dark growls and snarls as her teeth raked further into his skin, ignoring her own pain she was causing herself. Mint felt tears of pain stream down his face as he struggled to cope with it, his teeth clenched tightly, seething through them. He continued to push as hard as he could, and in an act of desperation, used as much of his strength as he could muster and yanked her head down.

That had been a terrible mistake.

Sandra’s mouth slipped along his leg, causing her teeth to be dragged with it. The sharp, pointed fangs raked along his flesh, tearing it up. Mint couldn’t stop his loud, bloodcurdling scream from escaping his throat, blood spraying everywhere. He tried to keep himself standing, but the pain was too much for him and he found himself collapsing against the ground, releasing a loud grunt of pain as he did so.

Mint laid on the ground, shivering and quivering in pain, releasing a series of soft whimpers. He shut his eyes tightly, squinting his eyelids together firmly, struggling to control his own breathing. He sucked in shaky breath after shaky breath, doing whatever he could to control his swirling mind. He looked back up at where Sandra was standing, her mouth stained with his blood, steam rising up from where it was burning her skin. The sight of it made him feel even more uncomfortable than he already was.

“Oh my dear little creator... That was not a very intelligent move, now was it?” Sandra spoke, her voice dark and hoarse. Even her chuckling sounded a lot darker than usual, deep and rumbling. “I could keep you around, still. You still have some use to me. Why don’t you just lay down your arms and...”

“N-Never... I would rather die than...” Mint paused for a moment. He could see the glint in Sandra’s eyes, realizing that she was more than willing to go through with wish. He forced himself to continue, “B-Besides... d-do you really think that I am...going to do whatever you...want me to do?” Mint panated heavily a few times as he tried to cope with the pain.

Sandra straightened herself up at this, tapping a feather finger against her jaw. “Hmm... Well I hadn’t really thought about it..” She folded her arms behind her back, giving a small smirk as she tilted her head to one side. “But I guess I can figure it out later. Whether you live or die that is...” Mint snapped his head back and growled at this. Sandra just chuckled. “Oh no, darling. No need to be afraid. It won’t be that bad...”

Mint half expected to hear her say ‘I promise’, but he was not really all that surprised when she did not say it. It was as though she really had fully given up on promises. And due to that... how could he trust anything that she said?

Mint tried to get himself to stand up, but he ended up slipping back into the ground. He tried to grab the pistol to shoot Sandra again. The dragon zoner was quicker, however, and she kicked it out of his hands. Mint let out a yelp of pain and clutched his hand to himself, trembling. He looked down at his hand for a moment before looking back up at Sandra, trying his best to look defiant.

Sandra just smirked at this. She was upon him in seconds, lunging towards him and pinning him against the ground. Mint let out a grunt of pain as he felt her hands gripping his shoulders tightly. She sneered down at him, letting out several dark chuckles. Her teeth flashed to him, and he could see how misshapen some of them looked from the blood, and he could see a light pinkish stain on several others.

“Now, how about we...”

“Leave him alone!”

Sandra turned her head, hissing in rage as Snap jumped at her. She grunted as his body slammed against her, his arms wrapping around her body. She fell into the ground about two feet away, giving Mint time to climb up to his feet. He stared down in shock for a few moments while Snap struggled to hold onto Sandra, trying to keep her from getting away.

Then he took action. He could not let Snap hold Sandra on his own forever, not with those jaws of hers snapping wildly in his direction. So, thinking fast, he jumped on top of Sandra as well, using his weight to hold her down. Then he and Snap worked together to try to keep Sandra down.

sss

Sandra growled in frustration as she attempted to push these idiots off of her. Did they really have no idea what they were doing? Did they not know who they were dealing with? Well, she should show them...

Sandra pushed herself up to her feet. She could not get that high up due to their weight trying to pull her down. Not that it was too much of a problem. She merely just started to throw herself from side to side, her body swaying about. She continued to do this for several seconds, doing whatever she could to ensure that her enemies could not hold onto her for very long, her teeth clenching tightly.

Then finally, with one more jerk to the right, she could feel Mint slipping off of her. With his heavier weight off, she could feel more freedom in her movements, suddenly feeling a lot lighter than before. She then turned her head to where Snap was and she grabbed onto him with her fangs. She ripped him away from her, causing him to lose his grip on her. Then she jerked her head to the side, throwing him against Mint.

Sandra hunched her body, holding her hands against her chest, her tail wriggling about, as she turned and looked at her two fallen enemies. She said nothing, remaining silent and merely watching, while Mint and Snap struggled back up to their feet. She watched as they staggered a little from the pain that was sweeping their feet, wobbling from side to side. She couldn’t help but chuckle at this. It was so amusing seeing them try to keep themselves standing when they were both pretty hurt.

And they were about to get even more hurt. Sandra knew that she had to convince them to stop. If they were going to be of any use to her, then she wanted to end this fight and take them with her before anyone else could show up. They were alone now. She had time to make a move to stop them.

And she did.

It was so satisfying seeing them start to scream in pain as she activated her powers upon them. She listened to them as they screamed loudly, collapsing into the ground as she grabbed a hold of them physically without even touching them. They clutched their chests tightly and she was certain that they could feel their hearts beating faster and faster. Sandra just smirked at their horrified expressions as she twisted her hand and lowered it stiffly, causing them even more pain and agony. They collapsed against the ground, writhing continuously as they tried to fight to overcome the pain.

Mint was the first one to get back up to his feet. Or at least try, based on how much he was trembling, his whole body unable to remain standing still for long. He let out a few loud moans of pain, his breathing having become quite shallow. He clutched his chest even tighter, his eyes bulging wide open. He looked as if he was losing a lot of his coloration. Sandra wouldn’t be surprised if he passed out at any given moment.

Snap was having a harder time getting up. He was rolling about on the ground, groaning as though he were being put through surgery while awake. His eyes were watery, tears staining his cheeks. She could hear him whimpering and crying softly. Mint was also doing this, though he was doing his best to fight against it, as though to look brave.

Sandra did feel a level of impressment as she noticed how they were both still attempting to stand up even in spite of the pain. It was clear to her that they were still willing to fight back, despite the fact that they were obviously too hurt to be of much of a threat to her. Just what did they expect to do with her anyway? Not like they stood much of a chance against her.

Well still, it was something that she could respect. They had guts, that’s for sure. Too bad that it was not going to do much to get them out of this situation. If they really wanted the pain to end, then they would stop struggling so much and just...

Suddenly, before she realized that it was happening, Snap appeared to have finally broken free of her hold. Well not completely; he was still being harmed by her powers. But he was not letting that stop him. He started to charge towards her, ignoring the pain that swept through his body. Sandra growled at this and tried to increase her hold on him, trying to avoid making his heart beat too fast as she did not want it to burst.

But that did not stop Snap. Before she had time to even say a word, Snap’s fist had slammed against her forehead. She threw her head back and let out a cry of pain and she held onto her head, seething at the horrible throbbing from where her powers originated from.

Through her blurred vision, she could see that the two idiots have been broken free of her spell. She watched as they rubbed their chests, leaning against something and trying their best to catch their breath. They then turned and glared at her, having recovered enough to take action against her.

Sandra hissed at this, baring her teeth. She made the attempt to activate her powers on them. But the moment that she did, she felt a sharp pain in her forehead and she yelped. She clutched her forehead tightly, seething at the horrible pain that swept through it. Oh of course... How could she forget that this area was very sensitive and any attempt to use her powers after her triangular mark was hit could result in unbearable pain...?

No matter, she could still take them on. She struggled up to her feet, preventing herself from falling down, keeping her claws pressed up against the floor for traction. She smirked in their direction, letting out a series of dark chuckling, trying to make it look as though she was not in as much pain as she really was. Mint and Snap did stop their advance, but they did not run away, remaining put.

Sandra gave a smirk of amusement at them. “You two will not give up, will you? So determined...”

“We will not let you harm another innocent, Sandra!” Mint declared, forming fists with his hands. “If you want to go forward with your disgusting plans, you will have to go through us first!”

“Aww isn’t that sweet. You are willing to defend these worthless people.” Even in spite of coming to realize how useless promises really were, Sandra still did not let go of her hatred for the citizens of ChalkZone City. “Well I’d have to break it to you two, but nothing you do will stop me...” She took a few steps towards them, hunching her back. “You think that a measley little prison will stop me? Need I remind you that I escaped the toughest one?”

At this, Mint and Snap’s eyes widened in horror. They glanced at each other worriedly before looking back at Sandra. They still took on defensive postures, but they clearly looked pretty nervous.

Sandra just smirked at this show of bravado, being able to see the true fear that hid underneath their faces. “So... if that little strategy didn’t work...” She tilted her head a little, letting one of her ears flop down. “...what makes you think anything will? Heheheh... I think your best option is just to surrender. Trust me, it’ll make things go a lot more smoothly if you...” She took a moment to look around the city, noticing all the destruction she had caused in her larger form. She smirked, feeling a sense of pride swell up in her chest. She then looked over at Mint and Snap with one eye. “...let me have my way with this place...”

That was it. She had one. There was no way around it. Mint and Snap would have to accept the fact that, even if they stopped her now, she would come back. The toughest prison could not hold her. Sure, it stopped her for a few years, but she was still able to come back. And any other prison she’d go to? She’d get out of them faster.

Really, they were indeed better off just letting her do her thing. Let her get it done and over with. They were only delaying the inevitable. Why won’t they just accept fate? Besides, it would work out better for them, too. At least she was willing to spare them and let them join her. Wasn’t that ultimately a better fate than just simply dying off?

“I will let you live with me. I will save you from being killed when I turn this place upside down. You will be safe with me.” Sandra placed her hand to herself, attempting to sound as sincere as possible. “I see hope for the two of you. And I mean that. So come on... Don’t you two want to keep benefiting this world? Why not help me? I care as much about it as you.”

Sandra was not at all surprised by the look of disgust on their faces. She had expected that to be honest. The two of them were still a little hopeless. She couldn’t help but shake her head. Well, she had time to make sure that they properly learned.

But since they did not seem so willing to go with her on their own, then perhaps she had to put them in a situation where they would have to listen. As they were now, they could still make a break for it. But what if she were to rectify that...?

Sandra snarled softly as she dropped down on all fours. She wanted as the two of them tensed up, moving closer together, watching her warily. Sandra grinning maniacally, swinging her tail wildly in prepartion of an attack. Then, without hesitation, she bolted towards them.

Mint and Snap looked like they were trying to move, yet their brains would not let them. They were frozen in that spot, their feet glued to the ground. They were likely frozen from the sudden fear that gripped their hearts. They knew that they could not outmanuever her. They knew that they stood no chance of dodging her attack. And in a matter of seconds, she was upon them. She shifted her gaze to Snap, smirking darkly. Then she prepared to jump towards him....

Suddenly she froze. She sucked in a sharp breath as something struck against her. She could feel something long, thin, and sharp press against her back. No, three things. Sharp, almost needle-like in how they felt. They pushed into her back, ripping through the flesh, warm blood already spilling out.

A few seconds later, she could feel something burst inside of her. Her eyes burst wide open and she struggled to breathe, her mouth opening wider. She could feel blood start to leak out of her mouth. She quickly realized, as the metallic taste filled her mouth, that it was her own blood. It trickled out of the corner of her mouth, dripping to the ground. She looked over at Mint and Snap. While the blue and white zoner looked horrified, there was a glint in Mint’s shocked ones that made it seem like he knew this was coming.

Sandra struggled to breathe, her body trembling. Each breath became harder and harder to make. No matter how hard she pumped her remaining lung, she still could not breathe in enough air to satisfy her burning chest. And when she felt her attacker lift her up into the air, she let out a strangled scream as the wave of agony shot through her body, paralyzing her.

She then felt something break inside of her, and she struggled to cope with the shere agony. She allowed tears to spill through her red eyes and she let out a series of whimpers, lowering her head. Upon opening her eyes, she could see, in utter horror, that the claws had pierced through her chest... That was when she became aware of a horrible pain in her heart, yet the damage to her lung made it near impossible for her to express how she was feeling.

Slowly, she turned her head over, trying to see just who had dared to attack her. Her eyes widened, seeing a familiar green color even through her blurred vision. Through her raspy, almost airless voice, she said, “S-Skrawl...”

The jellybean glared at her, his eyes reflecting a wavelength of hatred towards her, burning as bright as the sun. In those eyes, she could see images of all the terrible things that she had said and done to him. And she could also see the promises he was silently making of making her pay for it. She could feel her face pale at this, not just from blood loss, but from fear.

Skrawl seized her by her neck, wrapping his claws around the flesh firmly. He yanked his claws out of her back, causing her to screech weakly in pain. He then lifted her up into the air, letting her body hang limply. She could not attempt to strike against him; her body ached too much to even think of moving. She just kept her eyes shut tightly, her teeth clenched, as she stared down at him with one eye, silently begging him to let her go.

Skrawl’s response to this was a snarl, contempt radiating on every etch of his scowl. The jellybean didn’t even try to speak. It was as though his rage had filled him up too much and he was no longer able to form words. Knowing how talkative the jellybean usually was, for him to be too angry that he couldn’t talk...

Sandra attempted to activate her powers to save herself. Skrawl, however, had seen what she was about to do and he took action before she could get too far. The feeling of the long, thin claw pressing against her forehead and tearing into the flesh was excruciating. Sandra widened her eyes to the point that they nearly fell out of their sockets. She let out the loudest scream that she could, dry and raspy as it was.

Then, with her source of her power ruined in a horrifically painful way, Skrawl then, in a show of his absolute disgust of her, pressed his claws against her stomach and, without hesitation, pulled his hand down. Sandra gasped loudly as she felt the claws rip open her stomach. It was so excruciating that she couldn’t even bring herself to scream.

In a matter of seconds, her intestines had spilled out. She looked on the ground, trembling hard as she saw her own steaming pile of innards, standing the ground with her blood. She looked over at Skrawl, tears streaming down her face.

“...p-please....st-stop...”

Skrawl just growled in response to that. He placed her quivering body against him while his hand grabbed onto her snout. He held her mouth shut, ignoring her muffled whimpering, and pulled it upwards. Sandra shut her eyes tightly as Skrawl began to pull her head back beyond its limits. And when she heard a loud, sickening crack in her neck, she couldn’t even scream. Her body stiffened up, and then suddenly her body went limp and numb. That was when Skrawl let her go.

As Sandra laid there, unable to move, she began to realize that...this is what Rudy had felt. This is what he had been put through thanks to her. A life without a working body... She let out a quick, strangled chuckle. Funny the way life was...

She did not finish her sentence before the blood loss rapidly got to her. She felt weakness surging through her body, causing her to shake and quiver even more. She could feel her mind rapidly fading and the darkness consuming her. She took a moment to look up at Skrawl before she finally collapsed competely. She barely registered her mind begining to go through the throes of death before everything went dark and silent.

sss

It was over... It was finally over...

Snap stared at the gruesome scene before her. He hardly paid attention to Skrawl, as though he was not really there. His solid white eyes were instead focused on the thrashing form of Sandra on the ground. He could not tear his eyes away from her as she went through death throes, the body using up the last of its energy, before it gradually become more and more still.

A series of emotions swept through Snap’s mind as he watched this. A part of him just...could not believe it. Never in his life would he have dreamed that something like this would have happened. Never in his life would he thought that this is how everything would have ended. He had imagined Sandra going back to jail or something, but to be killed by Skrawl...

With that in mind, he turned his head to where Skrawl was...only to see that he was gone. It seemed that Skrawl did not want to stay any longer than he needed to. Perhaps he didn’t want to be thanked for his actions. Maybe he didn’t want to be seen as some kind of a hero, and just decided to leave with his Beanie Boys.

Snap could not help but smile a little at this. Despite the fact that Skrawl was their enemy, and will always be their enemy, he was still grateful for the help. He was still grateful that the jellybean was able to see that, in this moment, it was better than he worked with them rather than fight against it.

He had to admit...perhaps it was better that Sandra be killed. He glared down at her now completely still form. She was right; she would have broken out of any jail that they put her in. Placing her in one would have indeed delayed the inevitable. She would have come out and they would have suffered more. In the end, they should have killed her in the first place. If they hadn’t locked her up five years ago, she wouldn’t have been here today, hurting so many people...hurting him and his friends...

But still, despite that, it didn’t make it any easier watching her die. She was still a living person at one point, and he hated seeing anyone getting killed. Skrawl was absolutely brutal to her, and he struggled not to throw up at the sight or smell of her disemboweled body. He had a feeling that the smell was going to take forever to clean up and even longer to be bleached from his mind.

But still, at least it was done and over with. At least they didn’t have to worry about her anymore. At least...

Suddenly he heard a grunting sound behind him. Snap turned himself around and he stared at Mint in horror. He saw that he was clutching his hand to himself. Snap limped his way closer to him, keeping his eyes on his hand. What happened? What was going on?

“Mint!” Snap called out to him. He reached his hands out towards him. Mint hissed and backed away from him. Snap looked at him with concern. “Mint...what’s wrong..? Why are you...”

Mint hunched his body, clenching his teeth tightly, seething through them. “M-My h-h-hand... Hurts so...so b-b-badly...”

Snap looked down at Mint’s hand, watching as it trembled and ached with pain. Licking his lips nervously, he reached out towards him. “Let me see...”

Mint shook his head. “No..! It... Gah!” He raised his hand up, looking at it with wide eyes, a panicked expression etching onto his face. “What the hell is g-g-going on?!”

Snap was about to respond, but something caught his eye. He turned his head to stare at Mint’s hand.

And that’s when he saw the light....


	50. The Recovery Process

Remember all the sadness and frustration, and let it go...  
-Iridescent, Linkin Park

sss

“M-Mint....” Snap whispered, his eyes glued on the glowing, which continued to get brighter. “What’s...What’s going on...?”

Mint couldn’t answer. He didn’t have one, and even if he did, he just...couldn’t bring himself to say anything. What could he say? He had no idea what was happening. The only thing he was fully aware of was the horrific pain that was spreading throughout his hand. He struggled to fight against it, but...gah, it hurt so bad...

Mint clutched his wrist tightly, gritting his teeth as he stared at his hand. He could not see any signs of bleeding or bruising. He could not see any obvious signs that would be painful. He could only see the mysterious white glow, which he could not make heads or tails of.

But it was so strange... It did not seem like it was the glow that was causing the pain. No, it seemed like it was merely a side effect of whatever was going on. Something had been triggered inside of his body and the glow was responding to that. But...what the fuck could have happened? What was going on?

It was too difficult for Mint to think. The pain was getting unbearable. It was not just the surface of his skin; he could feel the pain all the way into his hand bones. They all ached and a part of him wished that he could massage even between where the bones connected to each other. Even those impossible to get to spaces were aching and calling out to be rubbed. Yet he knew that there was nothing he could do about that.

Then the pain began to spread... Oh gawd no... Please make it stop...

But his silent pleas fell on deaf ears. His body did not respond the way he had hoped. Rather than making it go away, it only made it worse and it spread quicker and faster, easing rapidly down his arm and towards his shoulder.

No, he could not let this happen. He had to do something... There had to be a way to stop this, right? There had to be something that he could do in order to make it all end. If he didn’t think of something...

The chalk... The magic chalk, of course... Why didn’t he think of that sooner? Maybe if he drew something, he might be able to stop the pain. Maybe something cold to place on his arm. Yeah, that could work. At least long enough so that he could get himself back home and treat this pain with medication. So without further ado, he grabbed onto a piece of magic chalk and he started to draw...

...only to realize that something was wrong.

“Mint? Why did you stop?”

Mint looked down at Snap, noticing that the zoner was staring up at him in silent fear and confusion. His white eyes shifted from the chalk and back to him. There were several questions rushing through his face alone, and Mint could not answer the vast majority of them.

However, there was one that he could answer.

“I don’t know... S-Something is wrong... The chalk feels...different..” Mint wasn’t really sure how to describe it. Even when Snap looked up at him in confusion, even when he tilted his head to the side and gave him that quizzical expression, he still could not think of a way to describe it. It was like...nothing he had ever felt before. “I can’t explain it.”

Snap licked his lips nervously. He caught the obvious distress in Mint’s voice at this. He then forced a small smile, trying to remain a bit hopeful. He gently nudged Mint, giving him a small smile. “Well... y-you can still draw, right?” He motioned to the chalk. “Draw something.”

Mint nodded his head. “Y-Yeah... I’ll draw something... Okay...”

Mint looked down at the piece of magic chalk. He narrowed his eyes slowly, Even though he had no idea what was going on with the chalk, or why it felt different, he knew that he had to do...something before it was too late. If he did not attempt to do something, then would the pain get worse? A sharp jab in his wrist, which caused him to nearly drop the chalk, answered his question. So taking in a sharp breath, he made his second attempt.

It became apparent quickly that something was up. There were no lines forming in the air like they usually would. Mint paused at this, staring at the air and at the chalk in confusion. He had used the magic chalk many times before. This should work... So why wasn’t it? Could it be due to the pain that was sweeping through his body?

“Hehehe...good one, Mint...” Snap chuckled nervously. He rubbed his hands together, giving the best smile that he could muster. “N-Now go on and draw for real...”

Mint slowly turned his head and stared over at Snap. He looked at him long and hard, his eyes staring directly at him. He remained like this for several moments, biting against his lip a little. And then he said, “Snap... I’m not...” He paused for a moment and gulped. “I’m not faking this...”

Snap stared at him for a bit, as though hoping that he was going to say that he was joking and try to get a good laugh after what they were all through. But when he saw that Mint’s expression was not changing, Snap’s eyes widened in horror. He took a small step back, his body shaking a little from the rush of emotion. He opened his mouth and he managed to speak, in a very trembling voice, “What do you mean...?”

“Exactly what I said.” Mint replied. He was trying his best not to sound scared, but...how could he not be frightened of this? “I’m trying to draw, but it’s not... Gah!”

“Mint!” Snap cried out, rushing towards the boy as he collapsed onto his knees. “Are you okay?!” He grabbed onto him firmly, staring down at him in horror. “Speak to me!”

Mint tried to say something, but he couldn’t think of anything to say. He could not even try to reply, for a few moments later, he was suddenly struck by a shockwave of agony. The glow spread further along his body, soon encompassing his other hand as well, forcing him to drop the magic chalk. He struggled against the pain, but it only got worse and worse. It was almost as though someone was taking a sharp knife and slowly cutting him up.

He tossed and he turned on the ground, trying to cope with the agony that spread along his body. He gritted his teeth tightly, gnashing them together. He tried to keep himself from screaming, biting his tongue. He didn’t know how much more of this he could take. The mind numbing pain was just getting harder and harder to bear...

Until finally, he could not take it anymore.

“Aaaahhhh!”

“Mint, no!”

Mint collapsed into the ground completely at this point. He curled himself up into a ball, pressing his limbs against his body. He trembled and quivered from the pain and fear of what was going on. He shut his eyes, feeling tears stream down his face. He let out a series of small whimpers and cries, despite his best attempts not to. Though Snap’s gentle stroking did help minimize the pain slightly, it was not enough to stop the shere agony that swept through his body.

Then the pain took its toll on his body. He stiffened up as another shockwave spread throughout him, striking at his chest now. He seethed as he felt as though his heart was going to explode. Then he felt all of his energy being zapped from him. He was just too wake to stay up any longer, and his body simply gave out.

The last thing that he heard before he closed his eyes and darkness overcame him was Snap begging him to get up.

sss

Word of what happened had spread like wildfire. It was amazing how fast news could spread in ChalkZone, even without the help of specialized equipment. It helped that zoners like Spy Fly could move really fast and were able to get the word out at a relatively fast pace. And within only a couple of hours, almost everyone in the city, who was still alive, knew what happened.

When everyone found out that Sandra was dead, there was a state of disbelief at first. It was difficult for any of them to believe. Sandra had been such a strong influence on all of their lives. A boogeyman in the form of a dragon, who had acted as their friend, only to betray them all. To think that she really could be gone...

There were some that were downright disappointed. Some had wanted her to be recaptured and sent back into isolation, or even something worse if anything could be thought up. But what could possibly be worse? Not to mention, the fact that Sandra escaped and caused all that destruction... Not all the zoners were so inclined to think that it was a bad thing that she was dead. If anything, they were actually happier this way.

But even the disappointed zoners were glad that it was all over. Once the zoners all got over their initial shock of the news of her death, they all relaxed and felt great relief. Finally, after all this time, they could finally rest easy. Sandra could not do anything when she was dead, now could she?

But though she was dead, there was still much to be done. There were still injured zoners that had to be rescued from the damaged buildings. They still needed to reconstruct the buildings as well. And there was still plenty of mental damage that needed to be taken care of. Even if Sandra was gone, that did not mean that the memory of her was going to fade any time soon. It would take some time and a lot of support. But they were all confident that things would indeed get better. They just had to keep moving forward.

There was some reeling that went on upon the discovery of Bell’s schemes. Understandably, not many of the zoners were pleased with what he had done, and even less so when it was revealed that his reckless acts had caused at least one zoner to die and another to get badly hurt. And the fact that he had wanted to put Skrawl in charge of this place did not go over well with anyone. They referred to him as a traitor and demanded that he be locked up.

It was a miracle that he survived, and he was presently in the emergency room. It had not yet been decided what will happen to him, but it was agreed that, after he recovered enough, he would be visited by the new head warden of the jail he formerly worked at, who will then decide what course of action to take.

Haney was doing slightly better. He had a more positive prognosis, especially since the octopus zoner that Penny had apparently drawn was able to get him to the hospital quickly. Naturally there was an adverse reaction at first, but that changed when an injured child zoner mentioned that he was the one who saved his life.

It had taken the citizens of the city by surprise when they learned of Haney’s attempts to stop Sandra. There was still a little bit of lingering doubt, but most of those who had believed him to be in cahoots with her were silenced, feeling embarrassed about their previous accusations. Several other zoners also expressed remorse over their treatment of Haney, especially realizing that he more or less was defending them even after how they had treated him. Many vowed to try to make things better.

But that wasn’t the only thing they did. Several zoners came to realize just how damaging their behavior had really been. Many of them had been rude and hostile towards many restaurant owners in the aftermath of the first Sandra incident, and they realized that this was wrong. They had only been making things worse.

So it was decided that they would all at least try to behave better. It was going to be hard, but they wanted to try to move past this. And that meant no longer hounding on restaurant owners. They could not allow themselves to believe that all of them were the same just because of Sandra. Which they all knew was true. Sandra had only been one person; Haney, along with the other restaurant owners they had harrassed, were clearly not her.

Ripclaw and Mosaic were doing pretty well. They had both been injured in the fight, but they were not too worse for wear. Compared to how they looked after the first battle with Sandra years ago, they looked downright healthy. But they still needed to be treated. That much was true. So when a couple of citizens saw their condition, they were immediately taken to a vet where their wounds were being treated.

But though things were starting to look up, though Sandra was finally gone once and for all, not all the news that had spread had been good. One particular set of news was downright devastating for everyone to hear. None of them wanted to believe it, but they all knew, deep down, that it was true.

There had been a little...shift with Rudy, Penny, and Mint. Not many wanted to acknowledge it, and some would rather believe that they died. Even if they were still alive and right there before them, a handful of zoners just...refused to acknowledge it, chosing to instead think they died, rather than go on believing that something like...that...could have really happened to their protectors. Or could they even be called that anymore?

Biclops closed his eyes at that last thought, giving a shudder, shaking his head. He had been relaying the recent events in his mind, imagining it all in his head just as Spy Fly had told him. He had been immensely relieved that Sandra was gone, even though he cringed at the details of her death. He knew he wasn’t even getting the full scoop as Spy Fly was not even there when it happened. A part of him was relieved at this. He did not need to know everything.

The only thing Spy Fly could not tell him was where Skrawl went. Biclops frowned at this. It was certainly worrying that Skrawl was out there yet again, and that he was going to be scheming to take over ChalkZone like he always does. Yes, he was the one who had killed Sandra, but that was done out of selfishness, he was certain. Skrawl had only been out for himself. Besides, that one act did not erase what he’s done. As soon as Skrawl was found, he would be recaptured and sent to a new prison.

Biclops shifted his attention away from that as he thought again about the three humans. He could feel his heart skip a beat as he thought about what had happened to them. He knew that such a change was going to be difficult. He could not even begin to imagine what they were all going through right now. But at least they had each other; that would make things a little easier.

Biclops narrowed his eyes softly as he turned his head and stared down the hallway of his cave. One of the many that adorned this place, in fact. He let out a small sigh, memories flooding through his mind.

He never did tell Rudy what happened to the children of the past..did he?

In all honesty, there had never been a reason befeore. Rudy never asked, and he never pressured it. Rudy didn’t really need to know any of it, just that the children were assholes and that was why he did not trust him at first. There had been more to the story than that, of course, and a part of him had been wanting to tell Rudy. But again, what was the point?

Well, now there was a point in telling. And it made Biclops feel sick inside. He had to place his hand against his stomach and rub it a little to keep himself from throwing up. He wished now, more than ever, that he had told Rudy, Penny, and Mint before all of this happened. He wished that he could have helped them better prepare for what laid ahead. They didn’t deserve this... Oh gawd, they didn’t deserve this...

Biclops looked up towards the ceiling. The sight of the magic chalk had once been a blessing to him. A reminder that there was someone willing to protect this world. But now...given what happened... He bit his lip and sucked on it tightly, feeling his gut twist inside. This chalk... it had become nothing more than a cruel reminder...

Despite his irritation about the whole thing, he did manage to force himself to walk. There was still something that he could do for the three humans, and perhaps it could help them feel a little better about their predicament. Maybe it could also aid them in the road that laid ahead. It was not going to be easy, but...he did trust that they would suceed. They had been through other challenges before; surely this would be just as easy for them to conquer.

Biclops went down the hallway until he came to a room on the left. He paused for a moment, moving his hand over the lock that held it in place. He looked left and right to make sure the coast was clear, despite the fact that there was no need for that, and he ripped the lock straight off the door. He stood there for a few moments, and then he pushed the door open and went straight into the room.

The room was pretty small. At least for someone like him. He had to be careful not to knock any of the cabinets down. He slid through them as best as he could, sucking in his gut as he went. He silently cursed at himself for not making this room a little more accessible. Then again, how was he to know that he was going to come in here again?

Man, it had been so long... Many years since he had set foot in this place. He had hoped that he never had to again. He had hoped that he never would have to be reminded of any of this stuff. But, with what happened lately...

He soon came upon what he was looking for. A large, dusty old book with no writing on the cover. He grabbed onto it and he picked it up carefully. A large book just the right size for someone like him. Though he imagined that Rudy and the others were going to need help reading it. And that was why he was going to take it to them and tell them about its contents. They deserved to know, after what happened to them.

They deserved to know...what happened to the creator children of many years ago.

sss

Penny let out a sharp groan of pain as soon as she opened up her eyes. She tried to cope with the pain the best that she could. But it proved to be incredibly difficult. A part of her wondered why she had bothered to wake up at all. Being in that soundless void of a dream was much better than this.

She attempted to squirm around a little bit. Perhaps if she tried to lay down some other way, then she would feel at least a little better. Maybe she was applying too much pressure somewhere. Maybe she was laying down for way too long.

But her attempts to shift herself around did not go over very well. She felt too...heavy was the only word that she could think of, and yet it did not fully describe how she felt. A sort of heaviness mixed in with something else. Fatigue perhaps? But still not quite... It was something that she could not fully explain and she wasn’t sure why. She could feel herself grit her teeth in annoyance at this.

She moved on from that, however, and focused on trying to figure out where she was. As her vision rapidly sharpened, she became more and more aware of where she was. She could not pinpoint it yet, but she knew that she was not in the Real World. The design of this room was not like what she would expect anywhere outside of ChalkZone. So okay, she was still in ChalkZone. But just...where exactly?

It was pretty difficult to tell exactly. She only knew that this was no place that she recognized. It seemed so...different. Like something that was recently built or in an area she was never in before or...something like that.

Normally, she would feel at least a little anxious in such a situation. After all, she was in some unknown location laying down heavily on a bed and couldn’t really move too much. Why wouldn’t she be frightened? And yet at the same time, she was just too exhausted to worry about that. She couldn’t really feel all that scared when she was too busy trying to keep her eyes open. Only awake for a few minutes and already she wanted to drop onto the ground and sleep some more.

She groaned as she placed a hand against her head, feeling about of dizziness. Just what had happened to her? It felt like some kind of great wall or something struck her against her side and flung her through the air. She could not begin to fathom just what could have caused this.

Was this where she had gotten hurt? Did she come into this strange building and tried to hide from something, only to be attacked? It would explain a few things, but at the same time, something about it seemed...off. She couldn’t really bring herself to believe that this is what had taken place. She wanted to think that something else had gone on. But..what? If only she could figure out just what kind of building this was, she could...

That sensation from before came back, only stronger than ever. She could feel it more distinctly this time. It was as though something was snaking its way up her arm. Something solid and cool and yet warm at the same time. She then became aware of another sound. Sort of slow, steady beeping, like some kind of weak alarm clark trying to wake her up.

Turning her head, her vision coming back into full sharpness, she could see that there was something going along her arm. For a split second, she thought it was some kind of clear worm and she was about to yank it out. She only stopped when she realized that it was made of plastic and thus could not harm her. But that soon led into more confusion. If it was not some kind of snake, then what could it be?

Then she realized it. It took her a few more seconds of staring, but soon she came to realize just what this was.

An IV tube.

Her eyes widened at this realization. She moved her eyes along the tube. She could see that it had been injected into one of her arm veins, pumping some kind of clear fluid into it. Turning her head, she could see that her other arm had a similar tub as well. She realized in that moment that the weird sensation she had felt before had to be been caused by the slight weight of these IV tubes going along her arms.

Turning her head and looking up, she could see that the tubes connected to a small...rack or whatever they are called, with a couple of sacks filled with some kind of clear liquid. Upon seeing this and looking back at the IV tubes, she realized that she must have been in a hospital of some kind.

So...she was in the Real World? That seemed to be the only thing that made sense, really. She couldn’t be in ChalkZone. There was no way that she would be able to handle the injections; they’d dissolve in her blood rather quickly.

But even that didn’t make sense. Looking all around at the design of this place, it just felt very off. It did not look like something she’d find in the Real World. The very look of everything looked more like it was drawn, leading to the idea of her being in ChalkZone City. She realized that, even if she were being injected with chalk, it was not toxic. Still, she would rather not risk making herself sick by leaving it in, so perhaps it was best if she tried to free herself and explain the situation what she believed to be well meaning zoner doctors. Perhaps they were mistaken or...

“Aaah!”

As soon as Penny attempted to sit herself up, she found herself falling back into the bed. She clutched her chest tightly, moving her hand so fast that she thought she had ripped the IV injection straight out. She looked down at her chest, struggling to take in breath after breath, and she thought she could feel something underneath what she realized was a hospital gown. She grabbed the collar and lifted it up, peering underneath.

Penny sucked in a sharp breath when she saw the blood stained bandages. She immediately dropped the cloth, her heart pounding against her ribs. Judging from how much redness she saw on the white cloth, there had been a lot of bleeding. But what could have happened to put her in this sort of situation? How did...

She could hear the door opening up. She swiveled her head towards the door to see who was coming in. She could see that it was some kind of zoner doctor. A humanoid horse one. White fur and long pink hair. The zoner looked over at her and immediately, with a worried expression, rushed over.

“What happened?! Are you okay?!”

Penny seethed a little as she tried to control her second bout of pain. She lowered her head, breathing in and out quickly. She then forced her eyes to open up again and stared at the white horse doctor. “I..I’m fine. J-Just a little sharpness... That’s all...”

The horse doctor did not look convinced. From the way that she had narrowed her eyes, it was clear that she did not buy her story. “Now come on, Ms. Sanchez. Tell me the truth.” She moved in a little closer. “I heard that scream from down the hallway. So did the other doctors.” Her eyes scanned over Penny’s chest, furrowing with worry. “Does your chest bother you? You did have a bad gash there.” The horse doctor paused for a moment, and then continued, “If you need some more painkillers, I’ll be glad to..”

“No thanks.” Penny raised her hand up. “I’m good. And...” She tried not to sound too rude. She appreciated the help and all, but there really wasn’t much that this hospital could do for her pain. “...none of your pills are going to help me anyway.” She looked at the IV tubes. “Neither are these.”

“Oh? How do you know?” The horse doctor folded her arms, frowning at her a little. “They were doing fine before.”

Penny blinked at that, unsure of how to respond. What did the horse doctor mean by that? She soon shrugged it off and replied, “Well, they’ll just dissolve in my body.” She raised her hand up slightly in gesture, her palm facing up. “Didn’t anyone tell you? We humans cannot be treated with anything from ChalkZone. We can’t even eat here.”

“Well our water has been able to hydrate you.” The horse doctor pointed out. She pointed a hoof finger in her direction. “And don’t try to tell me that’s impossible. I’m the doctor here, not you. We were able to notice an improvement after we gave you some water from our own kitchen.”

“What..? But... No, that doesn’t make any sense.” Penny placed her hands to herself, feeling the tubes tug with her. “I’m human! It shouldn’t work on a human!”

The horse doctor merely stared at her long and hard, her eyes narrowing a little. They remained locked like this for several moments, neither side moving or saying anything. The expression the horse doctor gave indicated that she was being serious. But Penny could not fathom how that was even remotely possible. Was there some kind of shift in the laws of physics or something?

Then the horse doctor decided to drop a bomb shell.

“Well, all that would indeed apply to you.” The horse doctor’s eyes softened up slightly, giving a look similar to sympathy. “...that is, if you were human.”

....what? How was... What did the zoner mean by that? Why wouldn’t she be human? Did the zoner really not see for what she was? Was she blind or something? No, her eyes seemed to be working fine. But...but what the fuck did she mean by ‘if you were human’? Of course she was human....

Thoughts raced through Penny’s mind was she tried to make sense of that statement. But no matter what she tried, nothing came to mind. Nothing could make sense of what the doctor zoner said. If she could see, then she could see that she was human. Was she somewhere where the zoners had no idea what humans were? That was possible.... and if that is the case, then that only further added to her confusion of what could have happened.

Then she happened to look down at one of her arms again. She took a closer look at it, almost as though she was seeing it for the first time. And that’s when she noticed something that she hadn’t before. Something that caused a rock to drop inside of her stomach. Something that ignited the bomb that the zoner had delivered seconds prior.

There was an outline...

No mistake about it. Along her arm and over her fingers, was an outline. No matter which way she turned her wrist, the outline moved along with her, following her every move, just like it was...

...her own outline....

But that was impossible. There was no way that this could be true. The...the only ones that would have outlines would be zoners. Which mean that the only way that she’d have one was...

...was if she was one...

No, that was impossible. No, it couldn’t be true. That couldn’t just happen. She was a human, not a zoner. This had to be some kind of insane dream or something else must be going on. This couldn’t be happening... Something was really wrong here... There was just no way that this could be true.

Penny only became vaguely aware of the fact that her heart monitor was beating faster. She couldn’t stop herself, and she didn’t bother to try. She sucked in a sharp breath, feeling a sting her chest as her mind swirled with heavy thoughts. The implications of what all this had meant... If it were true, then...

The blood inside of her body turned to ice. She struggled to control her breathing, but it was no use. She could feel herself breathing faster and faster with no signs of slowing down. She widened her eyes as horror swept through her body. And all the while, she could hear the beeping of the machine move at an increasingly swift pace, creating an eerie choir that echoed in the background.

“Emergency! Code Blue in Room 242! I repeat! Code Blue emergency in room 242! I need backup!” Wailed the horse zoner into a small walkie talkie that she held in her hand. “Please hurry!”

As soon as the zoner was finished speaking, that’s when Penny became rapidly aware that something was wrong. That beeping...she realized it was indicative of her heart rate, and inside of her chest, she could feel something pounding harder and harder, as though to try to get out of her body.

Her own heart...

Penny clutched at her chest, only to recoil and scream from the pain, the gash still haven’t healed all that much. She began to thrash about on the bed, twisting and turning herself. The pain spread throughout her body, making her struggle even harder on the bed. She had to get out of here. She had to get away. If she didn’t...

She wasn’t sure how long she had been doing this. She wasn’t sure how long she had been squirming about or how long the pain had been conquering her mind. She wasn’t even aware of how long she had been crying, her face wet with tears. All she could do was just keep struggling and hope that she’d be able to escape the pain.

Before she knew it, she felt something grabbing onto her. She could feel her heart rate increase further at this. She thrashed about even more, her teeth bared as she tried to get away from the pain, get away from whoever had grabbed onto her. There were voices that echoed all arond her. She could not make out what they said, and they only made her feel even more afraid.

Then she felt a sharp prick in her arm. She immediately released a scream, as though it was the worst thing that was ever done to her. She tried thrashing about more, hoping that she could free herself. But the hands holding her down before only tightened their grip. She tried to fight back. She tried to make them let go. But nothing she did worked, and she could feel herself begin to lose strength.

No, she couldn’t let herself pass out like this. She couldn’t let herself slip into unconsciousness. She had to remain awake. She had to stay vigilant. If she let herself fall asleep and left herself vulnerable to whoever these people were...

It was no use. No matter what she tried, no matter what attempts she made, it was utterly pointless. She felt herself losing more and more strength, and she knew that, in the end, she was not going to be able to fight back for long. Before she knew it, she fell completely limp on the hospital bed.

She looked up at the doctors before her, vision becoming rapidly blurry. She could only make out their faces. Swirly and dark, very little details shown. She couldn’t see any signs of benevolance or malice in those eyes. The neutrality scared her the most and she winced at the sharp, icy pain of fear shooting through her chest.

Then she closed her eyes, unable to keep them open anymore. She could feel more fear filling up her body, quaking through her. She could feel her body start to quiver more, low whimpers escaping her throat. She had no idea if she was going to get out of this. She had no idea if she was going to see her friends again. She didn’t know if...

Suddenly, everything became dark and silent.

sss

The fist collided with the wall with great force. The loud thud sounded as though it could be heard for miles, spreading throughout the building. The vibrations lasted for several seconds and didn’t seem like it was going to come to an end any time soon. And the quivering pain that radiated through his fist also continued, feeling as though it was not going to end any time soon.

Not that Snap cared. He held that position for several seconds, doing nothing to pull himself away or even make a sound that he was in any discomfort. Even though he was in pain, he hardly paid any attention to that. He had something else far more important on his mind. Something that he was having trouble acknowledging, accepting as real, and yet he knew, deep down, that this truly was the case.

He didn’t know how long he had been standing there. Not that he really cared all that much. He was too busy staring out ahead, keeping his eyes focused on...well nothing really. He just didn’t want to look at anyone or anything right now. He just wasn’t in the mood.

His mind was swirling with rapidly moving thoughts. He could feel the interior of his skull quaking with these thoughts, clouding up inside of him. They kept zipping about like some kind of storm was going on. And no matter how hard he tried, he just could not make sense of any of them. They were not full on sentences. Nothing fully coherent. No, instead they were just random words and thoughts. Simple and short, but to the point. A fucking avalanche of words that only began to describe how he was feeling right now.

He took in a deep breath and forced himself to sigh. He could feel some of the burning emotion move down his arms and through his fingers. He could feel their tips tingling a little in emotion, lingering for a few seconds before dissipating completely. He lifted his head up and he stared up towards the ceiling, imagining the sky above him.

That damn, taunting sky... It hadn’t really changed for hours. Well this was ChalkZone. Of course the sky wouldn’t change. It was always day here. That was how it worked.

But today, it just felt like it had a different connotation. It felt as though the sky was mocking him. It was trying to convince him that everything was fine, that everything was back to normal. It was trying to tell him that nothing has really changed and that it was all going to be fine. He could practically hear the sky calling out to him and telling him to relax, that he was wasting his time being upset.

But he couldn’t relax. Not after.... Urgh, how dare the sky try to tell him that everything was the same. It wasn’t... The sky should change to accomodate that. It should indicate that everything from this point forward was going to be different. It should make the effort to show that it was the one who was wrong. It should...

Oh why was he even getting upset with the sky anyway? It was just the sky. Nothing living. He was wasting his time being angry at it. He forced himself to give off another sky and he pushed himself away from the wall. He..really needed a better outlight for all of this.

But still, that hardly changed the way he felt about the whole situation. That didn’t change the fact that his gut was swirling inside, burning with the horrible memories of what had taken place in the city, and of recently.

What happened to the city...

Sandra’s involvement...

....what happened to his friends....

Snap wanted to mourn for all of that. He wanted to just collapse into the ground and cry and weep. He wanted to curl up in the ball and let it all out. He didn’t want to bottle it up any longer. He didn’t want to risk turning his own body into a ticking time bomb.

But he couldn’t do that. Not yet. He would have more time later to lament on what Sandra did to him. Right now, his mind’s biggest priority was what happened to Rudy, Penny, and Mint. Not that he wasn’t concerned about anything else that happened. It was just...at the moment, that’s what his heart was concerned with.

And was it really all that shocking? After all, what happened to them was...unprecedented. He didn’t see it coming. He didn’t think anyone would have realized that this would happen. He gritted his teeth at the memories that led up to it, and he cursed himself for not realizing soemthing was happening. Shouldn’t he have sensed something? Shouldn’t he have realized that something was wrong? What if this was all his fault? What if...

“Snap...?”

The zoner swirved his head over and he could see Rapsheeba walking towards him. Her face was furrowed with concern. Snap softened his expression only slightly, but he still turned his head away from her. “Hello, Rapsheeba...”

“You shouldn’t be up. I thought the doctors told you to lay down.” Rapsheeba walked over a little closer to Snap. She reached out with her hands. “Come on, let me help you get back to your room...”

Snap jerked himself away from her. “I’ll bring myself back later. I just..” Snap leaned against the wall, one hand splaying straight up against it. “I need some time to think.”

Rapsheeba stared at him for a moment. Then she spoke in a knowing tone of voice, “You’re thinking about your friends, aren’t you?” Snap did not answer. Rapsheeba seemed to take that silence as a yes. She sighed softly and Snap could hear her take a step closer to him. “Look, I know how you must feel about that. And I know you aren’t happy with yourself. But Snap, you can’t blame yourself for what happened. It wasn’t your fault.”

Snap shot a glare towards Rapsheeba. “Are you saying it’s their fault?”

“What? No, I didn’t say that! I just meant that, you know...sometimes things happen and you can’t really do much about it. There is no one person to blame.” Snap stiffened up when he felt Rapsheeba move her arms around him. “You shouldn’t waste your time on whose fault it was. You should be focusing your time on healing.”

“And what of my human friends?!” Snap paused as he said that. The word ‘human’ brought back a whole horde of uncomfortable memories. He shut his eyes tightly, feeling tears moving down his face. “Th-They’re not....” He gulped, feeling tears pour out of his eyes nonstop. “They’re not...not even...” Snap couldn’t finish his sentence, and he just shut his eyes, allowing whimpers to escape his mouth.

Rapsheeba looked down at him sympathetically. She leaned in closer, pulling him closer against herself. “I know, Snap. I know... This is a very difficult time for you, for them, for all of us.”

Snap growled softly. “None of you are going through what they are...”

“No, we’re not. But...” Rapsheeba paused for a moment, biting her lip. “You are their closest zoner friend. I do care about them, and so does Blocky, and many others. But you...” Rapsheeba turned Snap over, gripping his shoulders with her hands. “You know them better than any of us. You are their closest link here in ChalkZone. If there’s anyone who can make this go smoothly for them, if there’s anyone who can help them see this through, it’s you.” Rapsheeba gave him the best smile that she could muster.

Snap tried to smile at this. He tried to let what Rapsheeba said get through to him. He knew that she was right about this. He really shouldn’t be standing around, moping. He should be helping his friends get through this. If he didn’t, then...

But it was difficult to brush of the emotions that he was feeling right now. It was too hard for him to just lay everything down and act like he was feeling better, when he wasn’t. This, and everything that happened, it was...going to take some time to adjust to, to recover from. He needed time... Just a little bit of time...

But soon, he should go see his friends. He should make an effort to see how they were doing. He should try to help them feel as comfortable here as he could. There were big changes ahead, and he wanted to help them be prepared. Rapsheeba was right. As their closest friend here, he should make the effort in helping them adjust to what had happened. They needed a helping hand, now more than ever. He couldn’t let them down.

As the swirling emotion inside of his body finally began to stop, Snap could feel his body start to weaken a little bit. He gritted his teeth as he leaned against Rapsheeba. He couldn’t really feel much strength in his legs, and he found it difficult to make himself stand straight up again. He tried to force himself to rebalance himself, but he just couldn’t bring himself to do it. With all that’s happened, he just...felt mentally exhausted.

Rapsheeba moved her arms around him, helping him to remain standing. “Come on... Let’s get you back to your room. You need some rest.”

Instead of resisting, all Snap could think of doing was just nodding his head in agreemetn. “Yeah... That sounds like a good idea...”

Rapsheeba smiled softly at this before beginning to make her way towards his room, guiding him along with her. Snap did nothing to fight back or struggle. He didn’t do anything except just follow her, leaning against her for support.

As they walked over, he did start thinking about his friends again. He wondered how they were managing. They would be awake at this point, right? Surely they knew of what was going on. He wondered how they were adjusting to all of this. He imagined they were scared and confused. So was he...

But he would do his best to be there for them. Even if he didn’t know what he was going to do, even if he had no clue how he was going to handle this, or how well they’d adjust, he would try his best and be there for them. He was their best friend, after all. He owed it to them.

sss

Rudy gritted his teeth tightly, feeling his head swirling about. He grabbed onto it and rubbed it carefully. Even after a couple of days, it still hadn’t fully gone away yet. They guessed that he must have hit his head harder than any of them had thought before. Though at what point this could have happened... he really didn’t have a clue.

Not that he fully cared, really. He had a lot on his mind and a small ache like this wasn’t exactly on his top priority list. He leaned himself against the back of the hospital bed, tilting his head upwards as he looked at the ceiling. Thoughts sifted through his mind. Not as frantic as before, but still a little achy as he tried to make sense of what had happened to him and his friends.

The first and foremost thing that came to mind was, of course, what Sandra had done to him. That evil, disgusting dragon had attempted to force him to abandon his own worldview, tried to get him to see things her way. She tried to ‘re-educate him’ and teased him with the prospect of getting his legs back. He recalled just how torn up he was because of this, the mixed feelings that surged through his body. He bit his lip and he shut his eyes tightly, trying to ride out the twisting pain that he felt inside his stomach.

Though a part of him was happy that he was able to resist, the fact that it happened at all still haunted his mind. He never thought that Sandra would have been willing to go that far just to try to prove her point. He didn’t think that she was that obsessed with getting what she wanted. And he had been proven wrong.

Not only in that, but in just...what she was willing to do...

He sucked in a sharp breath as he recalled how she had treated him. She had pinned him down and she had...toyed with him. His blood became chilled at the memory of that. He clutched at his chest and struggled to control his rapid thoughts, his racing heart. It took a few seconds before he could fully settle down.

But even then, he knew that this was just the beginning. He knew that it would take a while before he and Snap could fully recover from what Sandra did to the two fo them. They were both put through hell with her, Snap even more so based on what he had heard him say. Sandra had messed with Snap’s mind and body, at first wanting to put him through pain as a food source. But then having a sudden change and thought and... Rudy shuddered at the thought.

As furious as he was at what Sandra did to him, he was even more disgusted that she had done this to Snap. And it sounded like she did it more than once to him.... though perhaps he had just misunderstood. Still, he wouldn’t put it past her to have done that.

Didn’t she do the same thing to Skrawl? He never knew just how depraved that blue dragon could be...until now that is. No wonder Skrawl reacted in such ferocity. As cruel as he could be, the jellybean still had standards, a limit in how far he’d go. Some lines just shouldn’t be crossed, and this was one of them. Despite how gruesome Sandra’s death was, based on what Snap and Mint told him, he could not really feel much sympathy for her. Sandra had gone way too far, and she had deserved to be finally snuffed out.

At least, with Sandra dead, there was no more need for ChalkZone City to fear. Sandra was no longer going to be able to hurt them. No more shall she terrorize them. No more can she get her revenge on them. They were all safe. Sure, there would still be nightmares and her face and name would still haunt them. But things would get better in time. Yes, in time...

Rudy felt a cold chill going up his spine again as he felt memories flash in the back of his mind. Despite the fact that he was certain that they’d all recover from this, he honestly wasn’t sure how long it’d take for him himself to recover. He didn’t know how long he would have to endure those horrible memories before he could finally master them. A very, very, very long time he’d imagine. No one just recovers from this within a day.

He let out a small sigh. At least he had his friends to help him out. And since Snap had a similar experience, they could help each other recover. It would be quite slow, but he imagined that, with each other, they could speed up the process. They had all the time in the world to recover.

In this chalk world...

Which brought about a bitter set of feelings that clogged up inside of his mind. Rudy didn’t want to think about it, but he knew he’d have to deal with it eventually. While he believed he could, slowly, recover from what Sandra did, there was something else that he would have to deal with. Something that was much more...permanent.

He, Mint, and Penny had...gone through a life changing event. They were subjected to something that was...going to change everything. When they first got the news, it was a bombshell, but now, a few days later, they could finally start really thinking about what this meant. It was a rather harsh blow to all of them and he didn’t think they’d recover so easily from this. If anything, he’d feel that this would be harder to recover from than Sandra’s heinous acts, for him and his two human friends.

Or rather, former humans. Rudy looked down at his hands, noting the outline that he now adorned. He sighed sadly, his mind still whirling from thoughts of what he and his friends had been told. He didn’t want to believe it. Neither did Penny nor Mint. But test after test, failure after failure with using the magic chalk, confirmed their fears.

They had been turned into zoners.

Rudy didn’t know how this could have happened... He took in a trembling breath as he recalled just how confused and panicked he had been with this. How...How could this be? He didn’t think that...

Then Biclops had come and explained the whole thing. Gave him the evidence to prove it and relayed to him what really happened to those other creators. How they had been trapped in ChalkZone and turned into zoners themselves... How remaining in this world for more than a day could cause anything from the Real World to just ‘chalk up’.

And he and his friends were apparently in ChalkZone long enough for this to happen to them.

Rudy recalled how bitter he was at first upon learning this. He recalled that he and his friends yelled at Biclops, demanding to know why he didn’t tell them sooner. Biclops had explained that he never thought it would be an issue, that he and his friends were always out before the time limit, and that he never thought something like this would happen. Rudy, Penny, and Mint had yelled at Biclops and told him to leave, but despite their anger, they weren’t really that furious with him. They just needed some time alone to adjust to what had happened to them.

Rudy felt a sting in his chest when he realized that... being a zoner meant he could no longer use the magic chalk. He couldn’t help the zoners anymore. He not only was wheelchair bound, but he couldn’t draw, couldn’t create anything to help. Mint and Penny still had some capabilities to aid the zoners, but...not as much as they used to. They all felt so...crippled.

And that wasn’t all. There was another brick wall they were struck upon realizing that they were zoners. They were trapped there. They couldn’t live in the Real World anymore. For now, the last portal open was simply hidden, locked up in darkness and against a wall so no one figured it out. But...would they even go back? Could they go back?

No, it was too dangerous for them. Any Real World fluid was now lethal to them. They were as vulnerable to the rain as Snap was. It was safer just to stya in ChalkZone. But...but that would mean never seeing their loved ones again... Never seeing their parents or cousins or aunts or uncles or any other friends... They would never see any of them again, and they would never learn of what happened to them.

Rudy felt a lump in this throat at this, feeling a few tears form. That was perhaps the hardest part of all.... Their loved ones would never know what happened. They would think they were kidnapped and try to find them...only to never figure out the truth and they would just...collapse and sob and mourn. Rudy could only imagine his mother holding his father and crying into his shoulder. Rudy would want to comfort his mom...only to feel a sharp sting in his stomach that this would not be possible.

He and Mint and Penny were trapped in ChalkZone...forever.

His thoughts were interrupted when he heard the sound of footsteps coming his way. Slowly, he turned his head over and he could see that Snap had begun to walk into the room. He could see just how slow and nervous his friend was moving, and he bit his lip, feeling guilt as memories washed through him.

“Snap, if you’re upset about earlier...” Rudy began to say.

Snap shook his head. “No, no, it’s fine. You were just upset. I can’t blame you for it.” Snap took in a deep breath and sighed as he turned his head and looked to one side. “I can only imagine how you must feel right now...”

Rudy felt some bitterness in the pit of his stomach and he couldn’t help but growl a little. Not so much at his friend, but just...at this whole situation. He shut his eyes tightly, wanting to just....lay down and wake up and everything would be back to normal. This just wasn’t fair... Why did this have to happen to him and his friends?

He knew there was really nothing that he could do to change this fate. He knew there was, far as Biclops knew, no way to revert back to normal. He and his friends were trapped as zoners, and as upset as they all were about it, he knew that was it best to just...adapt. It was not going to be easy, though, and he had a feeling he was going to remain bitter for quite some time. But..he had to at least try, right?

He looked down at Snap, trying his best to smile in a more comforting way as the zoner made his way over to him. He did feel bad about yelling at him before. And at Biclops, too. It wasn’t any of their faults that this happened. None of them could have predicted they’d be stuck in here so long that they’d ‘chalk up’. They couldn’t even blame Sandra; she didn’t know about it either. Most zoners didn’t.

Well that’s the way life was sometimes, right? Sometimes it just sucked and the only thing that you can do aobut it is just...deal with it. He had to be at least grateful for what he still had. Even if he lost everything in the Real World, and even though he lost his status as the ‘Great Creator’, he did still have his friends with him.

And at least he was trapped in a world that he knew really well, anyway. He had visited so many places, documented so much of it, had so many maps stashed away... At least there was that. He had already spent so much time in ChalkZone to start with that it already felt like a second home to him. And he had more friends here than he ever did in the Real World.

He smiled sadly at this, feeling a few tears claw their way in his eyes. Yeah, maybe it wouldn’t be entirely bad. There were some positives to this whole thing. He just had to keep reminding himself of that.

But that didn’t mean that he would forget his former life and what he left behind. He felt a sting in his chest at this, and he carefully rubbed it. Nothing would ever make him forget...

“Did the doctors bring in your new wheelchair?” Snap’s question shot through his head, cutting him off from his thoughts.

“Uh...no yet.” Rudy replied. He didn’t really look at Snap when he said that. “But it won’t be in here just yet. They said they were..working on it or something.”

Snap nodded his head solemnly. “Ah, I see...”

An awkward silence fell upon the room. As much as Rudy wanted to think of something to say to break it, he just couldn’t think of anything. There really wasn’t a whole lot that he could say that would lighten the mood. It just seemed like anything that he could think of would only remind him of what had happened, and make his heart twist even more.

And then there was that other thing that happened to him. The mention of the wheelchair served as a reminder of that. Sucking on his lip, the human-turned-zoner looked down at the blanket that covered his body. He looked over at where he could see his foot pressing up against the blanket. He felt a shot of cold running through him as he felt an echo in his mind. Foot, not feet. Just...foot.

Rudy was fully aware that he had lost a foot in the battle against Sandra. Not just a foot, but most of his leg, actually. If he wasn’t crippled before, he sure damn hell was now. So now, even if he somehow managed to regain movement in his leg, it was going to be useless now, given that one leg was now gone. He’d always need a wheelchair now. He will never walk again.

He wondered if this is how Mint felt. He recalled just how shocked Mint was at the discovery of his left foot missing. He wondered how he was able to sleep at night. He wondered if he had any nightmares. He wondered how long it took him to accept that, yeah, he was going to live without his left foot for the rest of his life.

Well, at least he still had the ability to walk. At least he did not lose that. Rudy did feel a tinge of jealousy at this, but he didn’t let it control him too much. He was still happy that Mint could still walk. After living for five years without that capability, Rudy wouldn’t wish this fate upon anyone.

Then the gravity of his current situation struck him and Rudy lowered his head, gritting his teeth. He let out a soft sight, closing his eyes. Right now, not being able to walk was the least of his concern.

He stiffened up when he felt something touching his arm. He looked down and he could see Snap staring back up at him. The blue and white zoner held a sympathetic expression on his face. He could feel Snap give his arm a gentle squeeze before he spoke.

“It’s okay, Bucko.” Snap cooed softly. “We’ll get through this...” He gently patted Rudy’s arm. “I know we will.”

Rudy gave a small smile to Snap. He did feel grateful at the zoner’s attempt to cheer him up. Even if he wasn’t certain himself, it was just..nice that Snap was so willing to help him and Mint and Penny adjust to their new life. It was not something that they felt they could accomplish in just one night or even a week. But over time..yeah, things would get better. Especially if Snap was there with them all the way.

But despite feeling hopeful that the situation could become more positive, Rudy did still feel quite depressed. And that was understandable. No one would blame him for it. Especially not Snap, who was now looking at him sympathetically. Rudy smiled sadly at him before lowering his head and closing his eyes. He remained silent, unsure of what to say, of what to add to this situation.

Then he felt another nudge from Snap. He turned his attention back to his friend. He watched as the blue and white zoner headed over to where the television was. He grabbed onto the remote and he slowly came back towards him.

“C-Come on, Bucko. I know what could cheer you up.” Snap said with a small smile. “How about a little bit of music?” Snap held the remote up towards the television. With a single push of the button, the television began to flicker on. “I think Rapsheeba’s supposed to be singing something right now.”

Rudy didn’t bother attempting to reply. He just leaned himself back in his bed, pulling the covers a little higher an an attempt to feel warm. He shifted his gaze upwards and looked at the screen. It took a few seconds before anything would show up. But sure enough, in a few seconds, he could see Rapsheeba’s face. Wobbly at first, but soon it sharpened up a little.

Snap climbed up into the bed and leaned against him carefully, trying not to aggravate his wounds. Rudy appreciated the company and fond himself looping an arm around Snap. The two of them watched in silence as Rapsheeba began to since some new song she had written. Rudy closed his eyes and let out a sigh. Hearing Rapsheeba’s voice after what he had been through was....quite comforting.

sss

It had been about five months since Sandra had been killed, since all of this had finally ended. So much had happened in that time period and there had been so much progress. More could be done, but still, it was quite the improvement.

The zoners still had a hard time resting knowing that the Signal machine was operational and still out there. Even if no one was actually using it right now, the fact that it was still in one piece and that it had been affecting at least one zoner was enough to put them all on edge. There was no way that any of them could sleep comfortably at night knowing that, at any moment, they could theoretically be controlled, turning into nothing more than a mere puppet.

Luckily, the local police station had organized a hunting party to go find it. It had taken several days, even with confessions from Bell and his followers. But eventually they were able to find it, hidden away safely somewhere outside of town. It was a mystery how Bell had been able to use it, but many were just content with the machine being destroyed. And this time, there would be no attempt to remake it.

Bell had recovered enough to face charges. He didn’t attempt to plead innocent and didn’t really fight back or defend himself, either. He admitted that he had done a very lousy thing and how he had put everyone at risk. A few of his followers attempted to plead innocent and some even turned against him. But they all had the same ending: they were to be locked away in jail for many years. Bell accepted this fate, though some of his former followers weren’t as compliant.

Skrawl and the Beanie Boys hadn’t been seen since that day. It wasn’t really certain what happened to them. Many guessed that Skrawl just needed time to recover, and that he would be back soon. He had gone on hiatuses before, so this wasn’t too unusual.

But in spite of the hiatus, the zoners were still on full alert. With no more creators to help defend them, the zoners realized that they would have to start going on the offensive themselves. They were not going to be able to do rely on easy creations anymore. And if Skrawl did decide to strike, he wouldn’t have as much hinderance. So many zoners began to take self defense classes and learned how to properly handle weapons.

Not that the city became a police state or anything. It was just...the zoners were attempting to be more readily armed just in case Skrawl did come back. None of them believed that he would stay out of sight for long. Sooner or later, he would make his move, and when he did, they knew they had to be prepared for the worst.

In other news, a more positive one regarded Haney. He had been making great recovery thanks to Azrel, the last creation Penny had been able to make before the....transformation. Azrel had been quick in getting Haney to the hospital, their long tentacles enabling them to move swiftly and safely through the debris. The octopus zoner claimed to have gotten to the hospital in a whopping five minutes, though some doubted their story.

Haney was still recovering, but had mostly healed up quite nicely. Some were confused as to why he took longer than Bell, though some say it was from nervousness and anxiety, mostly in how he had been treated before. Which made sense. It was hard for the body to heal if it was flooded with negative emotions and being in a hospital where about half the patients had been ones who had threatened him...that couldn’t have been a pleasant experience.

Several zoners who had learned about what Haney did for them felt horrible for how they had treated him and other restaurant owners. It had only been talked about at first, but over the next few months, the zoners of the city attempted to shift their attitudes a little and be more welcoming with restaurant owners. They had realized that, by continuously being suspicious and aggressive towards any new restaurant owner, they had essentially been allowing Sandra to control them. And none of them wanted that to happen.

Many of the zoners who had been horrible to Haney did come to apologize in person. Haney had been quite surprised and overwhelmed by the amount of zoners that came to visit him. It was similar to how Snap had been visited by his previous tormentors. A blast from the past kind of deal.

It was a little hard for Haney to be willing to forgive some of them, particularly the ones who had dealt the most physical damage to him. Not many really blamed him for it. Such a reaction was pretty normal. Snap still found it difficult at times to fully forgive those who had turned against him. But in the end, like Snap, Haney did grow to at least giving them another chance, even if he refused to fully forget or forgive what they had done to him.

Dr. Crobat, Mosaic, Ripclaw, Snap, and Taima were brought into the hospital for their injuries. Some were more severe than others. They had taken a while to fully recover, Snap being the most injured of them. Afterwards, Dr. Crobat was restaffed in the hospital along with Mosaic, while Ripclaw found her place in the police station. Taima was offered, but he still clearly felt bad for his behavior years ago and opted to return to his life of mostly quiet solitude.

But not all the news in ChalkZone had been good. As much as many would like there to be nothing but improvements and good news, there were some details that...weren’t as delightful.

The first and foremost thing was the psychological damage that had been dealt to Rudy and Snap. Word had spread quickly to what had been done to them, and many zoners were shocked and outraged by it. They would have called for the death of Sandra...if she wasn’t already dead to start with.

Rudy and Snap had been doing their best to recover. For a while after the incident, they had actually felt fine and didn’t think they needed any help. But that was only because of the adrenaline rush of what had taken place. They had been left in a partially numb state, and when their bodies began to settle down and become calm, everything that Sandra did to them came crashing down upon them.

Both of them suffered nightmares almost every night for a while. They would sometimes wake up screaming and struggle in their beds. Sometimes they had to be given shots so that they didn’t suffer a heart attack. At first, they’d deny anything was wrong, but this never lasted that long, and soon they were breaking down in front of their friends.

The zoners had done their best to help them, as did their dearest friends. Some of the zoners who were victims of the same thing, though done to them by someone else, had come forward to share their experiences with them and offer them emotional support. Close friends would sit with them and hold them whenever they had an episode and try to help coax them out of their increasingly depressed states.

Eventually, after about two and a half months, they were admitted into a support group. About once a week, they were taken and would relay their experience over and over again. Over time, this did start to work. The zoners’ support and their friends’ encouragement did begin to have an effect on them, and their prognosis began to improve.

It was not yet perfect, however. Rudy and Snap still suffered from some PTSD episodes. They had gotten better and it was believed that they’d continue through time. But things like this are not fixed overnight, and their friends would be on the constant look out to see if they would suffer another episode.

They were not the only ones suffering from PTSD, either. Dr. Crobat had been suffering in a similar fashion, which was affecting his work. He was afflicted with nightmares himself, these focusing on his late friend, Dr. Gelcro, along with what Bell had done to him. Out of all the zoners, Dr. Crobat was the least forgiving of Bell. And it was not hard to see why.

Dr. Crobat had been used by Bell as some sort of puppet. He had been forced to do terrible things while under his control. He had almost killed Mint and Penny. He had almost killed Dr. Gelcro with a torture machine. But what hurt him most of all...

...he never got a chance to apologize to Dr. Gelcro.

The news of Dr. Gelcro’s death had stunned many in the community, and had hurt Dr. Crobat deeply. He hadn’t gotten much sleep for a while and when he did, they were riddled with chilling nightmares. He would often yell in his sleep ‘I’m sorry’ over and over again. Other times, he’d shoot up screaming, similiar to what Rudy and Snap would do on occassion.

Many zoners attempted to comfort Dr. Crobat, but their words didn’t get through to him as easily. He kept on going on this downward spiral of self-loathing, and there didn’t seem like there was an end in sight. There was even some rumor going around that he was contemplating suicide, though these were never substantiated.

Eventually, though only relatively recently, Dr. Crobat did show signs of improvement. He did start acting a little more cheerful and didn’t appear to beat himself up as much. It was not the perfectly ideal state and many still feared for him. But it was still an improvement nonetheless. Much like the situation with Snap and Rudy, it was not a situation that was going to magically fix itself. Baby steps.

But the biggest news of all that took ChalkZone City by storm, the news that shocked them all and many did not want to believe, the news that changed everything, was the fact that Rudy, Mint, and Penny were...no longer human.

They had been turned into zoners.

This event led to many more zoners learning about the condition that Biclops had barely mentioned to anyone, nor was spread around that much. The condition known as ‘chalking up’, where a human who stays in ChalkZone for more than twenty four hours ends up turning into a zoner themselves, losing their ability to use the magic chalk.

According to Biclops, this was a protection measurement that had been in place for a long time. It was not certain how it came to be. He had no record of that. But the one thing that he did know is that ChalkZone attempts to protect itself from the Real World by turning anything from that world that stays in this world into chalk after a period of time.

Supposedly this was meant as a deterrent to those from the Real World, and it made sense. A corpse from the Real World would create issues that no zoner wanted to deal with, and a human in ChalkZone was quite a problem, especially if they didn’t want to leave. So turning them into chalk would assure the corpse would decompose naturally while the human was rendered helpless.

That didn’t make this situation any easier to handle, however. Many zoners suddenly felt vulnerable now that they had no humans who could draw things for them. This also meant that threats from the Real World could no longer be combated so easily. Many became terrified of what this could mean for ChalkZone.

Others weren’t as scared. They had believed that many of the zoners had gotten too soft, too reliant on Rudy, Penny, and Mint to thelp them. They brought up how they had been just fine without creators, and that they could continue thriving without them. It was these zoners’ words that led to interest in self defense and weaponry, and the increased determined attitude to fight against Skrawl.

And one good thing came out of Rudy, Penny, and Mint no longer being human: Skrawl could not abuse their creator powers any longer.

But adjusting to zoner life hadn’t been easy for the trio. Sure, they had spent hours in ChalkZone before and knew how it functioned. But it was a whole new ballpark to actually live here, to actually find a home here, to sleep here, to wake up and eat here... It just felt so...different.

Many zoners, especially Snap, did their best to help the trio adjust to zoner life. Though a few zoners didn’t want much to do with them now that they weren’t creators anymore, most of them, even if disappointed, were really supportive, helping the former creators in any way that they could. It was their way of telling them thanks for all their hard work before, saying that it was the least that they could do.

Though Rudy, Penny, and Mint had begun to adjust to life in ChalkZone relatively well, there were still some things that would take a while to heal. Sure their bodies might be healing, and sure they had begun to get used to no sunsets, more or less adjusting to life as a zoner, there were mental wounds that would be everlasting.

The fact that they couldn’t see their Real World families and friends anymore had been a harsh blow. This was made even worse by the fact that Biclops had decided that keeping the portal open was far too dangerous, and, though heavy heartedly, had the portal destroyed, closing up the last remaining portal into the Real World. Though the trio understood why he did this, it nonetheless served as a catalyst that caused them all to break down.

The zoners, especially Snap, Rapsheeba, and Blocky, had all tried their best to help them feel better, comforting them in any way that they could. But it hadn’t been made any easier, and they still suffered nightmares even to this day about their families and friends from the Real World. The world beyond the chalkboard, and now beyond their reach.

They could only begin to imagine what their parents were going through. They could imagine them calling for help, trying to get people to find their children, only to realize that they weren’t anywhere to be found. They would be presumed dead and their parents would mourn, as well as their Real World friends. It tore them apart, not being able to do anything to let their parents know that they were alive. Even if they adjusted to life in ChalkZone completely, they would still suffer the sting of emotion regarding their families and friends for quite some time.

The real stinger is when they noticed their parents drawing things on the chalkboard. It was not often, but whatever they did draw was usually depressing. Either recreations of their own drawings, or solemn messages, or even doodles of them. Whatever they happened to draw usually brought a tear to their eyes, serving as a reminder of their former lives as humans.

But Rudy, Penny, and Mint did attempt to look on the bright side of things. They did lose the Real World and all those they held dear in it, but they didn’t lose everything. They still had ChalkZone and they still had many friends here. They were in a world that constantly changed, constantly had new places to explore and new people to meet. A world where they didn’t have to worry about aging or dying of old age, where they were constantly surrounded by those who cared about them. Even though they will miss their families and what friends they did have, they had many more friends in ChalkZone and many more who were supportive of them compared to the Real World.

Still, this did not mean adjustment was going to be easy. There were still things that needed to be worked out. Not just in regards to living out their new lives as zoners, but also mentally recovering from what Sandra had done. It was a slow and steady progress, but things were starting to look up.

They could only hope that it would keep going this way.

sss

Rudy let out a sigh as he stared out at the night sky. No, correction, the Night Zone sky. Sometimes he would still forget that he was in ChalkZone permanently now. The cartoony look of the sky and moon would remind him that he was, indeed, in ChalkZone.

It still wasn’t easy. He still hadn’t fully gotten used to life here. He was very close of course. And sometimes he would even forget that he didn’t always live like this. But it was just...so hard sometimes not to get struck by emotion as memories came flooding back. Even as he closed his eyes during his sleep cycles, he would still remember the faces of his loved ones he had been forced to leave behind in the Real World.

That hadn’t been the only thing, either. He and Snap were still recovering mentally from Sandra’s actions. It was not as bad as before and they were making some real progress. But much like the loss of the Real World and the fact that he, Penny, and Mint were turned into zoners, they hadn’t fully recovered, and likely wouldn’t for a long time. Lingering nightmares reminded them of what Sandra did, not just of the fact that they couldn’t see their Real World family and friends anymore.

But Rudy kept trying his best to look on the bright side. Being trapped in ChalkZone wasn’t too bad. He had always liked it better here, anyway. The zoners were often friendlier than most humans he met. And now that he and his friends were locked up in ChalkZone, humans like Terry Bouffant and Vinnie Raton had no way of getting back in.

This news alone was enough to bring a smile to Rudy’s face. He was still devastated by the lost of contact with his family, but at least the secret of ChalkZone, in a sense, ‘died’ with them. There were no more portals and there was no magic chalk in the Real World that had been left behind. Vinnie and Terry may not be so broken up by their supposed ‘deaths’, but they did lose their ticket into ChalkZone. Even if they created something to try to steal magic chalk, it would be useless. And that, in of itself, was quite comforting for many.

All in all, it had been quite a bittersweet several months. Rudy’s mind was plagued both by the negative aspects of what happened, and by the positives. He would continue to be weighed down by the negatives for a while. After all, the brain tends to stick to the negatives more strongly. But overtime, the positives would start to outweigh the negatives, and he was certain that he and his friends would eventually reach a state where they would be fully recovered and fully adjusted. Maybe still feel bad for their Real World friends and family, and he and Snap would likely still suffer the occasional nightmare regarding Sandra, but they would start to be able to better handle those memories.

Rudy grabbed onto the joystick on his wheelchair and pushed it forward a little. He could hear the little squeaking of the wheels as his wheelchair began to move closer to the window. He reached over and pulled the blinds further open, allowing him to see outside. Even if it wasn’t the Real World sky, it was still beautiful. It helped him to almost forget what happened, almost forget what Sandra did, almost forget that he was missing a leg...

At this, Rudy took in a sharp breath. He turned his head down and he looked at his torso. One leg was still there just fine, but the other was gone. He felt his heart twist at this. He was still getting used to the fact that he had only one leg. Not that it changed much; he would always be wheelchair bound far as anyone could tell. But...it still wasn’t easy looking down to discover he was only one-legged now.

He shook his head, trying to erase those uncomfortable thoughts, and then looked back at the window. He watched as a few zoners went by their business. Some of them he recognized as their new neighbors. At least during the night. As they learned, zoners tended to have two homes. One in the Day Zone and then one in the Night Zone. Snap had been generous enough to let them stay in his Day and Night Zone homes.

At the moment, he was alone. Penny and Snap were out somewhere, trying to help Rapsheeba pick out a new outfit for her new concert. And Mint had decided to try out a new restaurant down the street. Not that Rudy minded; he did enjoy a little bit of time alone. Let him sort through his thoughts and all.

It still felt strange, being in ChalkZone twenty four hours a day, seven days a week. A part of him was happy, but another was just...stunned that this happened at all. Despite it all, he could still feel himself smiling a little bit. The one thing that he was most grateful for....was that at least, he was with his friends.

Upon thinking that, he could hear the sound of the door opening. Turning his head, he could see that Mint had come back into the room. He had a little bit of food stains on his shirt and he looked like he had eaten well. The wide smile on his face suggested that he had been quite satisfied wherever he had gone to.

“That food was delicious! I am going back there tomorrow and....” Mint stopped when he took notice of Rudy. He immediately raised his hand up and began to wave to him. “Oh hey, Rudy! How are you doing?”

Rudy tried his best to smile back. “I’m doing well...”

Mint immediately began to frown at this. “Rudy, there’s no reason to lie to me.”

“Lie? I’m not lying to you.” Rudy tried to say. But it was clear that Mint did not believe him. He watched as Mint placed his hands on his hips, glaring at him expectantly.

“If you’re going to lie, you should try better than that.” Mint softened his expression up a little. “Now come on, Rudy. You can tell me anything. You know that, right?”

“Yes, I know...” Rudy nodded his head slowly. “I know.”

“So...why don’t you tell me?” Mint moved in closer to Rudy, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

Rudy didn’t answer right away. He just kept his head tilted downward, biting onto his lip. He looked left and right a few times as he tried to think of what to say. He wanted to be more positve, and he did just get finished thinking about the good that has happened.

And yet..there was just no denying it. He couldn’t ignore the fact that he was still affected by all of this. He was still overwhelmed....and he knew that his friends were, as well. Even if things got better, it was just...hard to forget things, you know?

Rudy didn’t need to say anything. His expressions alone were enough for Mint to deduce what had been going through his mind. Almost right away, the former human realized what was up, and had moved in closer for a hug. Rudy widened his eyes as he felt Mint’s arms wrap around him and pulled him close. He stiffened up a little for a few moments before he fell limp in Mint’s arms. He soon returned the hug, pressing the side of his face against his friend.

They remained like this for several moments. No words were spoken. They didn’t need to be. The thoughts that raced through their minds, interchanged with each other without input, exchanged through their hugging, was enough. Rudy felt comforted by the warmth of being encased in Mint’s arms. He didn’t think he’d ever want to let go. He just wanted to stay like this for hours.

When they finally did part, they pulled back, their hands still on each other’s arms. They looked into each other’s eyes long and hard, still exchanging, silently, many thoughts to each other, conveying message after message. Slowly, Rudy began to smile and Mint followed suit.

“Thanks... I needed that.” Rudy said, lowering his head slightly. “I guess I have been a bit out of it....”

“I wouldn’t say that. You have been doing better lately and that’s what counts.” Mint said to him, smiling a bit more boardly. “You and Snap have both been doing better. The support group is doing wonders for you, isn’t it?”

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “Y-Yeah... I suppose it is.”

Upon noticing his dull speech, Mint said, “But that’s not the only thing bothering you, is it? You’re still upset about us being trapped in ChalkZone...”

“I’m...getting better....”

“We’re all adjusting. That is what is important. No one expects us to be one hundred percent okay with this so quickly. It will take time.”

“I know...I know...”

Silence again. Rudy had his head pointed down once more, his mind reeling with thoughts. He was grateful for what Mint told him and he did tell himself that things would get better. But a part of him wondered if they would get better. There was still that pessimistic part of him that felt that things would never get well, that he would always be...

He stopped himself when he felt Mint place his hands on his shoulders. Rudy felt comfort in this, especially when Mint gently squeezed them a little, creating a brief, pleasurable sensation. He found himself looking into Mint’s eyes, being unable to turn away from them. They stayed like this for...he didn’t really know how long. And he honestly didn’t really care.

Eventually, Mint did break the silence. “You know, Rudy. I...I was thinking about something...” Mint’s voice took on a nervous tone as he released one of Rudy’s shoulders and rubbed the back of his head. Rudy looked at him with curiosity. “You remember how we...both had felt pretty strange before? Back when we were looking for clues and what not?”

“With Sandra?” Rudy struggled to remember. There were so many things that went on at this time. It took him a little while to think of the moment that Mint was likely referring to. “Y-Yeah... What about it...?”

Mint hesitated, straightening himself up and looking away, a somewhat awkward expression on his face. He soon looked back at Rudy and he licked his lips slowly. “I...I had thought that it was due to the Signal...”

Rudy frowned at this. “Wasn’t it? I thought for sure that it was. It made so much sense...”

Mint shook his head. “The Signal had nothing to do with it...” Mint moved slightly closer. “Because I feel strange now. I was fine earlier, but when I am near you...” Mint paused for a moment, clenching his teeth. “I feel weird.”

Rudy blinked his eyes slowly. He didn’t know what this meant. He didn’t know what Mint could be referring to. He tilted his head to one side as he tried to think about what this could all mean. “Y-You do...? Is it... a bad weird...?”

“Oh no, no, it’s not.. It...kinda feels good.” Mint spoke quickly. He gave a smile to Rudy, albeit a bit shakier and more nervous than before. “It’s like a...weird sensation in the stomach and chest.” Mint moved his hands over his front to emphasize his point. “It makes me feel more nervous around you...and yet I don’t want to get away. I... can’t just...”

Rudy widened his eyes at this. No way... Was Mint going to say that.... That he... But when could this have happened? How did it happen? And why didn’t he notice it?

Or did he notice it? He had felt a similar strange feeling. But he just...didn’t know how to deal with it and there was too much going on. Was it possible that he was feeling the exact same as Mint? Was he feeling...drawn to him like Mint was apparently to him? He recalled that he did feel a similar sensation in the chest and stomach as Mint described. But...still...could it really be possible that...

But what else made sense? If it was not the Signal causing this, then the only explaination he could think of...was that he....they... His mind trailed off, unable to finish that thought. This was just...so much to take in at one time. So much already has happened. And now this...? He just didn’t...

Rudy nearly jolted when he felt a hand against his face. He looked up and he could see Mint smiling down at him as he gently caressed his cheek. It was quite soothing, really. Rudy found himself leaning against it, feeling comforted by it.

“I guess...this does change things, right?” Mint said. His voice was soft and quiet, but not fully devoid of cheerfulness. “We have been through tougher ones. This...” He paused for a moment. “We can handle this...right...?”

Rudy nodded his head slowly. “Yeah, I think we can...” He stopped for a moment. Then he shook his head. “Scratch that... I know we can...”

Mint couldn’t help but smile at this. “Now that’s the Rudy I know.” Keeping his hand pressed up against Rudy’s face, he tilted his head to one side. “Ready to venture out into the great unknown, oh Great Creator?”

Rudy felt his heart sting at that comment. He was no creator, not anymore... And a few zoners sometimes called him that to insult him.

But somehow, coming from Mint, it felt...more like a compliment than anything.

“Yes... I am.” Rudy replied, spreading his smile across his face. “I am more than ready...”

“Ah yes...I knew you would be.” Mint spoke, giving a soft chuckle. “That’s the Rudy I know. Always ready to take on a challenge. Always ready to move forward...”

Rudy gave a quick chuckle at this. “Not that it is going to be easy...”

“Of course not. But we have each other, right?” Mint said. “You, me, and Snap and Penny...we will get through this together.”

Rudy nodded in agreement. “Yeah, no argument here.”

The two boys smiled at each other or several moments, feeling both of their spirits lift up at this. Mint slowly caressed Rudy’s cheek a little further, and then he began to lean in forward. He paused for a moment, and the two of them looked at each other in the eyes a little longer. They lingered like this, their smiles facing, expressions changing into something else. Something that was like a cross between uncertainty...and craving.

Then, a few seconds later, Mint’s lips connected to Rudy’s. The former Great Creator felt a jolt go through his body, and he soon relaxed. A second later, he returned the kiss, moving his arms around Mint as he did with him. The two of them stayed like this for....they didn’t really know how long. In that moment, the world just seemed to stop.

Indeed things were going to change after this. It was daunting for sure, but, for once, Rudy was looking forward to it.


End file.
